- Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall calls for an audit of all properties owned by the city.
- This follows a fire in Millcreek, which originated on Salt Lake-owned land before destroying two buildings.
- Officials emphasize the importance of maintaining properties to prevent similar incidents.
SALT LAKE CITY — The mayor of Utah's capital city is now calling for a review of conditions at every property that it owns following a brush fire that destroyed two apartment buildings in Millcreek last week, which originated on land owned by Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall requested an "immediate audit" of all city-owned property inside and outside of city limits, a city spokesperson said on Tuesday. Every city department is being asked to "assess the conditions" of every property under its control, with a priority of locating and removing grass or weeds exceeding 6 inches in height.
Salt Lake City has several departments that oversee facilities all over the region. The measure comes in the wake of Friday's fire that started on a Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities maintenance yard that houses multiple groundwater wells and pumps within Millcreek limits.
While the fire remains under investigation, Salt Lake City and Millcreek officials say it appears it started when landscaping crews struck a rock while mowing the land. It quickly spread to the neighboring Willow Glen Apartments, destroying two of the four buildings in the complex and displacing 79 people.
Millcreek had issued a "courtesy notice" to Salt Lake City on July 22, warning them that weeds on the property at 4988 S. 1300 East were exceeding 6 inches in height. The city was given until Aug. 6 to address the problem before any citations or fines would have been assessed.
The city inspected it following a complaint to investigate the issue that came from Millcreek City Councilman Thom Desirant, according to city documents. Desirant, who believed MIllcreek owned the land when he filed the report, wrote that the field that's typically cleared "a couple of times in the summer" had yet to be cleared this year, adding that he believed it "presents a danger to our buildings due to fire potential."
Some of the weeds had grown to 4 feet to 5 feet high, according to Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini. Crews on the scene noticed that the weeds had grown too tall before even seeing the notice, and the fire broke out while the land was being cleared, said Laura Briefer, director of the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities.
She added Monday that the department is still awaiting the results of the fire investigation, which the Unified Fire Authority is conducting.
"We take this very, very seriously; and where we take responsibility, we will," she told KSL.com.
The fire broke out as drought conditions continue to worsen in Salt Lake County. Nearly one-fifth of the county is now in severe drought, while the rest is in moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
It doesn't help that the dry conditions developed after back-to-back-to-back normal or above-normal winter snowpacks in the region, meaning there has been enough moisture for more vegetation to grow before drying out this summer.
Friday's fire was an "unfortunate" example of what could go wrong when not properly maintaining spaces even within a city's limits, Silvestrini said. He added on Monday that he's also appreciated how Salt Lake City has accepted responsibility since the fire.
"It's a lesson to all of us about not letting weeds get tall," he said.
