Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Team Coverage Where a building stood Wednesday night, a hole now exists in the downtown landscape. Crews have already torn down the old Club DV8 building destroyed in that big fire in downtown Wednesday night.
Fire crews weren't sure the building would sustain the 100 tons of water it would take to put this fire completely out, so they decided to tear it down. Now, after getting an emergency demolition permit from Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, that's just what they are doing.
The fire started about 9:00 Wednesday night, and it took most of the night and morning to get it under control.
Bright orange flames roared from the top of the old downtown building in what fire crews are calling the biggest blaze in years. The fire grew so large, nearby buildings were evacuated.
Two women from out of town were enjoying dinner at Mikado when they smelled smoke. "It was really hot. I mean, we were on the other side of the street and we could feel the heat," Denisse O'Conner said.
"The roof fell in and the windows blew out, and a huge amount of flame and a lot of heat," recalled witness Justin Watkins.
Firefighters were sent inside at first but were pulled out when it became too dangerous. "Typically, hold fire for 20 minutes. At that point it became impossible to get a foothold on the fire. Our crews backed out large screens outside the building," explained Salt Lake Fire Deputy Chief Dan Andrus.
Freezing temperatures made it difficult for firefighters to fight. Crews rotated to get warm throughout the night, and by morning the outside of the building was visibly charred and icy. Smoke had replaced the blazing flames.
Investigators haven't been able to get a good look at the building's interior because of its instability. They say as far as they know, water, power, and gas were turned off.
Salt Lake fire investigators don't know how the fire started, but they interviewed a transient who told them someone was in the building around the time of the fire. Investigators say it was a slow-moving fire and they have no reason to believe someone was trapped inside; but since fire fighters couldn't fully search the building before tonight's demolition, there's no way to rule that out.
Investigators believe the fire was human-caused. They say they've had problems in the past with transients starting fires inside buildings to stay warm, and they're looking at that as a possible cause.
However, with the demolition goes a big part of the investigation. "Without a scene to investigate, it's unlikely we'll ever actually determine a final cause for this fire. It's likely to go down as undetermined. So as far as the investigation is concerned, we'll continue to interview people and do as much follow-up as we can," Andrus said.
The owners of this building also own the building just south of it, which at one point Wednesday night was threatened as well. They were on scene all day Thursday watching as the building they just bought one year ago, and for which they don't have insurance, gets knocked down.
Club DV8 closed in 2004, ironically because of fire code violations. The sprinkler system wasn't up to par.
The fire investigator we spoke with talked with the building's owner, who said before the fire, the nightclub was still furnished--we're talking lights, the sound system, Victorian-style couches, even the liquor still on the shelves!
