SLC Fire Crews Battle Blaze At Abandoned Structure
Nov 30, 2020, 5:39 AM | Updated: 11:08 am
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Crews with the Salt Lake City Fire Department responded to a fire at an abandoned structure Monday morning.
“Initially the call came in at 4:00 a.m. We had a resident report the smell of smoke,” said Captain Anthony Burton with the Salt Lake City Fire Department.
When crews arrived on scene, flames were bursting through the roof of the abandoned building. Cell phone video of the blaze was captured by one nearby resident and shared with KSL.
#Breaking building on fire on 300w police told me their worried about a gas station close by #ksltv pic.twitter.com/iLrNseoeXX
— Derek Petersen (@Derek_Photog) November 30, 2020
No cause for the fire was given, but firefighters said two unauthorized individuals came out of the building at the time of the fire.
Burton said they tend to see an uptick in people trespassing when cold weather sets in. He said whether or not they started a small fire to stay warm is still under investigation.
“We’ve also had a lot of reports in the area and throughout the city of people fighting small fires to stay warm, so we have been trying to work with all of these individuals,” Burton said. “Of course we are trying to respect public people and if it is a nuisance fire they have to put it out, but we’re also trying to keep people warm.”
Crews said the large response was due to a nearby gas station located near the structure, which has been protected.
Crews also laid salt and sand down after 300 West turned into a sheet of ice from the water used during their fire attack. 300 West from 600 North to 700 North was initially blocked off for several hours, but reopened before 8 a.m.
Continuing Defensive Operations. 300 West will be closed for quite some time this morning due to firefighting and ice. pic.twitter.com/tF7jOlfLxd
— Salt Lake City Fire Department (@slcfire) November 30, 2020
