Reports of smoke sends Pleasant Grove firefighters back to home destroyed by fireworks
Jul 5, 2024, 5:01 PM | Updated: 7:14 pm
PLEASANT GROVE — A Pleasant Grove family is facing losses of nearly $1 million after their home went up in flames overnight Thursday.
Firefighters from across Utah County came to fight the blaze in the early morning hours of July 5. Crews said the fire was caused by fireworks that were improperly disposed of in a garage trash can.
It’s the worst possible outcome to come from a mistake made after a holiday tradition. Fourth of July fireworks, not properly thrown out, cost a family their entire home.
Luckily, no one was injured, and neighbors said even the pets, which some worried had not survived, were found to have run off.
No one wanted to speak on camera, but one neighbor caught the fire on video just after they said police woke them and told them to evacuate.
“Somebody gathered fireworks up, gathered them in the trash can, put them in the garage, which we strongly advise as not a safe thing to do,” Andrew Engemann, fire chief at Pleasant Grove Fire Department said during the early hours of the blaze.
Engemann said the fire was started in the garage, and quickly spread to the attic. Then it caught up to the roof and knocked it down.
By early afternoon Friday, the fire was controlled, and no one was on the scene until reports of smoke and smoldering caused firefighters and police to come back and finish the job.
“Once they’re done, you can’t just assume they’re inert and safe and not going to be a problem,” Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said of used fireworks.
Cannon said that he sees fires like the one that burned down the Pleasant Grove home happen, to some degree, annually. He said it’s often due to improper disposal.
KSL had Cannon demonstrate how to put out fireworks properly.
“When you’re done, these things are done,” he said, holding up a sparkler and a small ground firework. “All you have to do is just drop it in a bucket of water.”
Cannon said used fireworks need to stay soaking in a bucket of water for more than a couple of hours, as they take a while to fully cool down.
He recommended leaving them in a bucket overnight and outside of a building to ensure the least risk.