SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah, April 27, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — A gas leak and fire led to mandatory evacuations in South Salt Lake Sunday night, but while the gas leak was stopped and the fire extinguished about 9:30 p.m., the evacuation order will remain in effect overnight.
According to a statement issued around 10:15 p.m. by Salt Lake County Emergency Management, “The mandatory evacuation of 3300 South to 3500 South and West Temple to 200 West will be in place all night. It remains unsafe to enter the scene.”
South Salt Lake Fire Chief Terry Addison said earlier the evacuation order would remain in effect until it could be determined gas was not entering nearby homes and businesses, posing a risk of yet another fire, or even worse – an explosion.
Those who were evacuated can find shelter, along with their pets, at the LDS church located at 3805 S. Main Street, Addison said.
A UTA warming bus was also accepting evacuees.
Addison told Gephardt Daily that firefighters were first called to the scene of a truck fire on South West Temple about 5:20 p.m. As crews were extinguishing the blaze, they soon realized that not only was the truck burning, “the ground was also on fire, along with a gas meter 200 feet away.”
After determining gas was being detected hundreds of feet from where the fire was burning, the mandatory evacuation went out to nearby homes and businesses.
The UTA Trax line was also shut down between 3300 South and 3900 South while a bus bridge was established to shuttle passengers between the two locations.
Fire crews from South Salt Lake Fire Department and Unified Fire Authority were originally dispatched to the late afternoon blaze.
It’s now believed a downed power line may have sparked the fires.
