SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 29, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — Employees escaped safely Tuesday morning after a raging fire consumed the snack-making facility where they worked went up in flames.
Salt Lake City firefighters were summoned to the scene, at 1518 S. Main, in the the Ballpark neighborhood, at about 7:20 a.m. Tuesday. The structure, formerly home to the Golden Phoenix restaurant, billowed smoke plumes visible through much of the Salt Lake Valley.
Salt Lake City Fire Capt. Brandt Hancuff told reporters at the scene that the fire soon went two alarms, then three, ” to get more more apparatus here quickly.
“The good news is that all the employees in this location were able to self-evacuate without any injury, which is great. And then we had our initial crews that went in on a fire attack, where they encountered heavy fire, lots of smoke and then some flashover conditions. Due to those conditions, they had to pull back out of the structure.”
“We transitioned to a defensive fire, where our focus is the exposures to the south and to the west of this structure.”
Hancuff said hose lines were set up to protect nearby structures with an aerial stream, and we’re just working on this defensive fire right now. We’re obviously in a very populated part of town here.”
Hancuff said he expected the fire to be out within a few hours, and crews would remain on scene throughout the day, “putting out hotspots.”
Nearby streets would be shut down during much of the operation, “So we ask that you try and stay away from here so that we can work safely and efficiently.”
No cause of the fire or monetary estimate of damage done was immediately available. Gephardt Daily will have more information as it is released.
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