SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 1, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City firefighters are on the scene of an overnight fire at a vacant apartment complex which burned earlier in the day.
SLCFD Captain Chad Jepperson told Gephardt Daily the second blaze Thursday at the Chateau Normandie Apartments, located at 63 South 400 East, was called out at 11:56 p.m.
When the first crews arrived, they found flames shooting from the roof of the multi-story apartment complex, prompting supervisors on scene to call for backup by declaring it a two-alarm fire.
Forty firefighters in all worked quickly to douse the blaze, which at one point sent flames leaping into the night sky.
Because the structure was known to be empty, the decision was made to fight the fire from a defensive position, Jepperson said, with crews tackling the blaze from the ground and the air by way of three ladder trucks.
“We have set up trucks on different corners of the building to get the best access to the fire,” Jepperson explained. “We’re currently flowing three different trucks with heavy water with over 1000 gallons a minute coming out of each truck. We have knocked down the fire considerably, but there is some still up there, which we can’t reach directly due to how the fire is burning and how the structure is laid out.”
Jepperson said nobody was in the building when crews arrived, and there were no reports of injuries.
“The biggest effect on the neighborhood here is there’s still a considerable amount of smoke, so if you’re experiencing some smoke conditions that’s likely coming from this location.”
The first fire at the apartment complex Thursday started around 4 p.m., but the damage was light compared to the fire overnight.
“The cause of both blazes in under investigation,” Jepperson said.
