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As temperatures drop, the number of house fires seems to increase. This past week alone we have reported four house fires in the Salt Lake Valley, including one early this morning in West Valley.
The garage of the house near 6500 West and 3600 South caught fire just before 3:00 this morning. The owner says until he saw flames going through his garage roof, he never thought a fire would burn his house.
Gordon Peterson has spent the morning sifting through what is left of his burned-down garage. "You work and you work to get what you got, and then something like this happens," he said.
Gordon is just one of thousands of homeowners who will lose property due to a house fire this winter. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, nearly 156,000 fires occur during the winter season in the United States, claiming nearly 630 lives.
Gordon says he is lucky his family was able to get out uninjured, but the loss of property is still something he never expected. "That's the very last thing in your mind, and every one of us should be paying attention to that," he said.
At nearby Arcadia Elementary on 3461 W. 4850 South, firefighters were on hand at Fire Prevention Week to educate students about the importance of a fire escape plan.
Ben Sharer, with Unified Fire Authority, said, "Right now with the 4th graders, they know everything. They know 911, they know the exit drills, they know that they need to have a meeting place outside in the front yard. They are very dialed in."
Sharer says because of their work with the students, the kids are more prepared when faced with a fire.
Fourth-grader Andrew Lujan said, "If there is a fire, when everybody is out we go to our neighbor's house across the street because he is a police officer."
Another fourth-grader, Kira Moser, said, "I would go to the door and see if it was hot. If it was, I would go out the window."
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the number-one cause of house fires is cooking, and the second is heating. Right now we do not know what caused this morning's fire; it will join the 34 percent of fires where the cause is unknown.
E-mail: spark@ksl.com
