Crews from 5 agencies battle market fire in West Valley City

A kitchen fire appears to be the source of a two-alarm commercial fire Saturday morning in West Valley City. Photo: Gephardt Daily

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, July 22, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — Meat left cooking too long at an Asian market Saturday morning sparked a two-alarm fire in West Valley City.

Jeff Fox, West Valley City Fire Department Battalion Chief, said he was at a nearby fire station when a call came in of smoke in the area. He found the source at the Kim Long Supermarket, 3450 S. Redwood Road.

“I came by and noticed there was some pretty thick black smoke coming from one of the exhaust vents in their building,” Fox said. “I could tell it was a structure fire from the smell and color of the smoke, so I called for a full assignment.”

The business was closed and empty, but the owners of the market were nearby, and opened the door for firefighters who responded from West Valley City, Unified Fire Authority, Murray, Salt Lake and South Salt Lake.

A grease fire had started, and flames spread up the wall and into the attic. The first two hydrants crews tried were not working, but the third provided them with water.

“We’ve got to be really concerned with firefighters going in there with fire above them, but they did a great job, they put the fire our fairly quickly,” Fox said. “There was quite a bit of damage done to the back of the structure.”

Crews removed window bars and a back fence so firefighters could escape, if necessary. Water was used on the structure fire, and foam was needed to knock out the grease fire.

No injuries were reported. No immediate estimate of damages was available.

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