Evacuation Lifted After Fire Destroys Cabin In Tooele County
Sep 17, 2019, 5:17 AM | Updated: 1:40 pm
SOUTH WILLOW CANYON, Utah – A fire in North Tooele destroyed a cabin and forced other homes to evacuate Tuesday morning.
North Tooele Fire Chief Randy Willden said dispatch received several 911 calls first reporting a wildfire and then later a structure fire. Upon arrival at 2 a.m., Willden saw a home was fully engulfed.
“The cabin was completely involved, and not like you normally think of an involved structure,” he said. “It was burnt nearly to the ground.”
#BREAKING @NTCFD working on a cabin fire in South Willow Canyon.
Details on #KSLTV at 430AM pic.twitter.com/eFf3n7IZO7— Derek Petersen (@Derek_Photog) September 17, 2019
Willden said strong up canyon winds spread the flames to the hillside and surrounding street as well as in the direction of nearby homes. Neighbors confirmed the owners of the cabin had left Sunday, and nobody was inside at the time of the fire.
The threat forced evacuations for several hours for both residents and those camping in the area. The evacuation order lifted several hours later.
“Everybody’s back in their home” said Chief Willden before 8 a.m.
This definitely could have been much worse up South Willow Canyon. This is what remains of a vacant cabin that burned down this morning and led to evacuations nearby. Lots of ash flying around up here. @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/L05JqYXlLq
— Felicia Martinez (@FeliciaKSL) September 17, 2019
The concern for firefighters is how the blaze started. The home had no electricity, it was unoccupied, and there were no reports of lightning in the area.
“When we arrived, there was silverware in the middle of the driveway and personal belongings out of the home,” Willden said. “That looked like to me like they’ve been blown up … so that’s why we wanted to have a propane investigator look.”
Authorities said the family has only owned the cabin for about a year, and they potentially had it on the market.
