SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 9, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A bit of bad news/good news greeted Salt Lake City firefighters, who were called into action just before dawn Saturday to fight an abandoned house fire.
The bad news for firefighters was being rousted before sunrise on a December morning to fight a fire while temperatures hovered in the low 20s.
The good news was the house that was burning was less than a block away.
Firefighters at Station No. 1 told Gephardt Daily they were first alerted to the blaze by a man who walked into their facility at about 6:40 a.m. and said a home was burning at 148 S. 500 East.
Fire crews arrived at the scene in less than a minute and found the old two-story structure already engulfed in flames.
About 25 firefighters attacked blaze, but even then it took nearly an hour to bring it under control.
Three hours after the initial response, firefighters had to knock down flames a second time.
The cause of the fire remained a mystery, but neighbors told Gephardt Daily the abandoned structure was being used by homeless people seeking shelter from the cold.
No one was injured in the fire, nor was there damage to surrounding properties.
Firefighters say the structure is now a total loss and will have to be demolished.
An investigation into the fire is ongoing.
