WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, April 29, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Firefighters were at the scene of a burning house Sunday afternoon and had a little more to deal with than the flames.
West Valley City Fire Battalion Chief Jed Peters said crews were called to the single-family home, at 3540 South and 3425 West, at about 12:30 p.m.
Upon arrival, they found “a lot of smoke and flames coming from the back side of the house.”
Peters said the home is on a narrow street, which made access difficult for the fire trucks.
Then, when crews started putting water on the fire, the amount of water they were pulling apparently caused a weak spot in the pipe to give out, and they were faced with a large water main break in front of the burning building.
The water main break caused the street’s asphalt to buckle, and crews had to quickly move the fire truck, so it wouldn’t be damaged, and shift over to a different engine.
Still, about 25 firefighters had the blaze under control within 20 minutes and spent an hour doing clean-up and making sure there were no hot spots.
Peters said no one was in the home at the time of the fire.
The family’s “older kids, teenagers probably” were playing outside in the neighborhood, Peters said, and the parents were elsewhere, so no one was injured in the fire.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
Peters said the amount of damage to the home is estimated “at the high end” at $80,000.
Water to the street was shut down while the water main was repaired, and Peters said he expected it would be turned back on by early evening.
