Estimated read time: 1-2 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
SALT LAKE CITY — About 20 people, including children, were displaced by an apartment fire that damaged several units early Thursday.
Crews were called just after midnight to an apartment complex at 1997 E. 2100 South.
The fire started in the bedroom of a third-floor unit, said Salt Lake City fire spokesman Scott Freitag. An exact cause was unknown Thursday afternoon. There were no reported injuries.
Damage was estimated at $100,000. The apartment where the fire started suffered the most damage. Five other apartments suffered smoke and water damage, Freitag said. Initially a second alarm was called, but those units were canceled before they arrived at the scene.
It took crews about 30 minutes to bring the flames under control.
Luis Cruz was sleeping in one of the units that was not affected by the fire, but was woken by firefighters who banged on all of the doors to evacuate the complex.
"It's crazy to think I could have still be sleeping if they hadn't come bang on the door," Cruz said.
Escorted by firefighters, Cruz joined his roommate who was already outside — his roommate who was on his way home from work and arrived home just in time to see the flames.
"You could see it from the street; you could see it coming out of the building from the street," said James Sedrick.
Some tenants said they could see flames shooting 10 feet out the third floor into the air. Cruz said as soon as he opened his front door he could smell smoke.
"We made out pretty lucky," Cruz said.
Email: preavy@ksl.com
Written with contributions from Shara Park.
