Taylorsville police officer’s home a total loss after fire, family lost everything inside
Jul 4, 2024, 5:01 PM | Updated: 6:41 pm
SUNSET — Many of us have plenty of photos on our phones these days. However, the pictures Colton Gordon took Wednesday morning are memories he wishes never happened.
“That is the inside of my living room,” Gordon said while scrolling through his photos. “And there is my house roof on fire.”
Just before 8 p.m. Wednesday, his Sunset home in Davis County started burning. The fire began in another unit in the five-plex but quickly spread to his.
Gordon, who is a Taylorsville police officer, was working at the time when he got an alert on his cell phone someone was at his front door.
“I pulled up the app and saw it was one of our neighbors,” Gordon said. “Then I saw all of the other neighbors outside running away and I just saw smoke everywhere.”
Gordon called his wife, who was already getting their two kids and dogs out of the house.
He then rushed home in what felt like the longest drive ever.
“It really did. Especially when I came around Farmington right past Lagoon and I saw the black smoke and I knew that was it,” Gordon told KSL.
When he got there, Gordon said he saw flames shooting up through his roof.
“I remember just standing there with everyone just in disbelief. It seemed unreal. It felt like I was stopped in time. It is hard to describe,” Gordon said.
Three families are now out of their homes because of the fire, smoke, and water damage.
The Gordons lost everything that was inside.
“The only thing we had was the clothes on our back,” he said.
For a police officer who had spent his career helping others, it was difficult for him to admit he now needed some help.
“It was just an uncomfortable position that I just felt vulnerable, and I do not like that feeling. But my wife was a rock. She was calm,” he said. “I kind of had to humble myself a little bit and just accept the help even though I know I need the help.”
Fire investigators with the North Davis Fire District are still trying to determine how the fire started.
Even when that answer is found, Gordon knows it will not bring back everything that was lost.
“I had about 500 challenge coins that I collected throughout my career that are gone,” he said. “I also had a lot of Kansas City Chiefs memorabilia. I became a Chiefs fan when I was in the Army stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. Our son was born there so we grew to like the Chiefs in 2010-2011. All that is gone.”
For now, the Gordon family is staying with his wife’s parents in Utah.
They are thankful for a place to stay, but Gordon knows there will be some tough days ahead.
“My boy is having a hard time because his pet snake was up in his room and they weren’t able to get her out in time,” he said.
The family is waiting to see what might be covered by insurance, and they know that will take some time.
“We will just take it one day at a time,” Gordon said.
They also know what is most important; that everyone made it out and that they are all okay.
“Exactly. That is all that matters,” he said. “Stuff can be replaced.”
The Utah Fraternal Order of Police has set up a Help a Hero donation page to help the Gordon family.
If you would like to help, you can click on this link to go to that page.
“I have got my family and that is truly what matters to me right now,” Gordon said. “We will just build back up and go from there.”
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