WEST JORDAN, Utah, Nov. 28, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Sarah Maughan was at home with her husband Friday evening, when he looked out the kitchen window and saw fire shooting into the sky just two blocks away.
While the flames rising above the area near 8445 South 3680 West were a jarring sight, Sarah, who is four and a half months pregnant, noticed something even more troubling. Silence.
“It was dead quiet,” she said. ” Usually in our neighborhood we can hear the fire truck sirens pretty well. I didn’t hear anything.”
Compelled to take action, she grabbed her keys and ran toward the fire.
Minutes later, she was at the scene, where a number of people stood around watching as the flames spread from a garage to the nearby home.
As others looked on, Sarah ran to the door and started pounding on it, waking up the man who was sound asleep inside.
“His mouth dropped,” she says. “He only saw the fire then.”
With the flames starting to overtake the home, Sarah says she went inside to help the man get out.
“He tried to grab some stuff, and I’m like we’ve got to go now. We have got to go now!”
Fortunately, he listened, and together they escaped without a moment to spare.
“We finally got him out,” she recalls, “and five or 10 seconds later the whole door we ran out of was on fire — was engulfed. We barely got out.”
But Sarah wasn’t done helping to save lives.
With the fast-moving flames spreading, a police officer arrived at the scene.
“I communicated with him that the next house was starting to get on fire,” she says. “So he rushed over and got another guy out, and his dog, and that’s the second house that got completely destroyed.”
By then, crews from West Jordan Fire and a number of other agencies had arrived, managing to keep the flames from spreading to any other buildings.
In the end, two homes and a garage were total losses, but no one was hurt, thanks in large part to Sarah Maughan.
“I just wanted to help the guy,” she says humbly. “I just ran in, you know. Not a good idea. I’m four and a half months pregnant and so I just went in there and just tried to help somebody.”
She tells Gephardt Daily that the entire experience made her realize just how fleeting life can be and gave her a new respect for firefighters and police officers who dedicate their lives to saving complete strangers.
“They don’t get enough credit for what they do. I feel like they deserve that,” she says.
She also urges others to take action and watch over their neighbors, if they know them or not.
“I just feel like people need to start caring about each other, instead of complaining or breaking out their phones and watching it.”
Crews from West Jordan, South Jordan, Sandy and Unified Fire Authority took part in the firefighting efforts.
