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Gene Kennedy Reporting A dangerous grass fire by the U puts several homes in immediate danger.
"They could see the flames and the glow of the fire from some ways out. It was spreading in every direction at the same time," Capt. Scott Freitag of the Salt Lake Fire Department says.
This morning a few hot spots remain, but the homes are safe. For awhile residents nor firefighters felt very good about the status of those homes.
The flames were coming dangerously close to several expensive homes near 1500 E. Tomahawk Drive.
Our cameras captured an entire hillside on fire-- about 20 to 30 acres. Residents who saw these flames coming closer to their homes started grabbing their valuables, preparing to get out fast.
For the firefighters this was a real battle. High winds, dry brush, steep terrain, and flames coming at them from all sides made it difficult.
"On arrival they could see the flames and the glow from miles back. They knew they had fire moving towards the houses," Freitag says.
Fifty firefighters united to protect a dozen homes, and it worked. They knocked the fire down in about an hour and spent the overnight hours mopping up hot spots.
Investigators are certain an illegal campfire caused this. A resident who called 911 believes teenagers are to blame.
"He noticed a black vehicle that pulled up with five or six people inside," Freitag explains. "They were males in their late teens or early 20's. They had parked their car and gone up in the canyon."
The fire started moments after the teens were seen driving off. Campfires are restricted from this mountainside and signs are posted stating that. If those teens are caught, they could have to pay in some way for causing this fire.
