Fire destroys 3 vacant homes in downtown Salt Lake


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SALT LAKE CITY — A triple house fire in downtown Salt Lake City Thursday caused quite a spectacle and left a lot of damage behind.

The fire, near 400 West and 900 south, started at about 3:30 p.m. in a group of uninhabited homes. Flames could be seen shooting from the rooftops and smoke was visible for miles.

A second alarm was called on the fire so that crews would have a chance to swap out and relieve one another in the extreme heat.

"It's always difficult to fight fires in this type of weather. Our firefighters are hot, (but) they've done a great job," said Jasen Asay, spokesman for the Salt Lake City Fire Department.

"This is when it's important that we take rehab into careful consideration when we rotate our firefighters: don't have firefighters too close to the fire for too long, make sure that they get rehab to sit in the shade, that they're hydrated," Asay said.

No one was injured in the fire, and crews had it extinguished within an hour and a half. Witnesses told investigators the fire started in the northernmost house, then spread to the other two.

The cause of the fire was under investigation and no damage estimate was available Thursday. The homes were scheduled to be demolished, Asay said.

Ironically, the burned trio of homes was used by firefighters as a training ground just last April.

Contributing: McKenzie Romero

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