MURRAY, Utah, June 16, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Crews from three agencies responded to a field fire that was threatening a structure near 4300 South and 300 West late Saturday afternoon.
Murray City Fire Chief Jon Harris said the 911 call was made at about 4:45 p.m. by a passerby reporting a field fire next to a commercial building. Heavy smoke was visible from Interstate 15.
“When our units arrived, about one-quarter to one-half acre of field had burned, and it was impinging on a steel structure,” Harris said.
The building, about 100 feet wide and 300 feet long, was abandoned and “has essentially no value,” he said.
Heat from the fire had melted and bent some of the steel, but otherwise there was no real damage to the structure, Harris said.
A second alarm was called because it wasn’t clear at first what was inside the abandoned building.
Harris said firefighters broke holes into the building to get an idea of what was in it, the flames were under control quickly, and the building didn’t burn, so, “We didn’t have too many worries.” The additional units were soon released.
Crews from Murray City, Unified Fire Authority and South Salt Lake responded, with about 35 firefighters on scene.
Harris said the cause of the fire is still undetermined, but “we have a significant homeless problem,” and the cause is under investigation.
No one was at the scene when fire crews arrived, he said, and there were no injuries to anyone.
Because the building was abandoned and has no apparent value, an expert was coming out to assess the stability of the structure and determine if it should be taken down.
