Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
SOUTH SALT LAKE — One man died in a house fire Saturday morning, officials said.
South Salt Lake Fire Department Deputy Chief Terry Addison said that a call came in after 9:30 a.m. of a structure fire at 2300 S. 300 East. Crews responded and found a fire had broken out in an upstairs bedroom where an unidentified 57-year-old man was residing. Addison said that the man's wife was able to escape, but he remained in the house.
Neighbor Brian Dugger told KSL that he could hear the man yelling from inside before falling silent.
Another neighbor, Jeremy Cox, told KSL that he grabbed a ladder and broke the window to the man's bedroom, calling for him to come to the window, but the man never came, and the smoke and fire prevented Jeremy from entering.
Addison said the fire was limited to just the upper story of the house — which was split into three apartment units — but firefighters were unable to immediately get to the man and had to wait until the fire was extinguished to locate him.
The man's bedroom appeared to be the point of origin for the fire, Addison said.
Though firefighters contained the fire damage to the second floor, where the victim was found, there is smoke damage throughout the house and it is not currently habitable.
The fire is under investigation by South Salt Lake Police detectives as well as fire investigators because of the fatality, Addison said. He said they have not yet determined a cause for the start of the fire.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire with only the water available on their fire truck, after fire crews discovered that both fire hydrants in the vicinity were inoperable.
"We never ran out of water," Addison said. A second fire truck was available with extra water, and Addison said the faulty hydrants were not a contributing factor to the man's death.
Addison said a work order has been placed to repair the hydrants.
Email: fstevenson@ksl.com
