1 taken to hospital after Tooele house damaged in fire

TOOELE, Utah — A Tooele home is a total loss and one occupant was hospitalized after a house fire early Wednesday morning.

Officials with the Tooele Fire Department said crews responded to the area of 200 South and 200 West at approximately 2:30 a.m. and found flames and heavy smoke coming from the home.

Both of the home’s occupants, one man and one woman, were able to escape, but authorities said one of the occupants was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation.

Tooele fire Chief Matt McCoy said the occupants escaped the house on their own.

“The fire spread throughout the entire home,” he said. “It will be a total loss.”

Neighbors told KSL TV they were awakened by police pounding on their doors, telling them to evacuate. For David Hall and his family, the fire happened extremely close as they live right next door.

“There’s an alleyway between the back of our house. It’s about five feet is all we’ve got,” Hall said.

Firefighters said flames and smoke were trapped in the attic, making it tough to extinguish the fire. Parked cars and the close proximity of other homes also created problems.

“The fire is just going like crazy. We’ve got hoses spraying everywhere,” Hall recalled.

The big challenge fighting this fire, he said, included smoke and fire caught between the attic and ceiling of the home.

“We’ve got crews in doing mop up right now. The fire spread throughout the entire structure. It will be a total loss,” McCoy said.

Hall said this is a good reminder for him, his family, and others to be prepared with a bag ready to go in case they need to get out fast.

“We were basically not really prepared at 2 in the morning. Just thank goodness we had first responders here to get us alerted and get us out,” Hall said.

Contributing: Bridger Beal-Cvetko, Karah Brackin