Parents React To Fire That Destroyed Their SLC Apartment

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Families who may have lost everything were still counting themselves lucky Wednesday after an early-morning fire displaced them from their homes.

“I was kind of freaking out,” said Jeremy Young, playing cell phone video of the fire at an apartment building in the Seasons at Pebble Creek complex in Salt Lake City.

Just 10 to 15 minutes before the video was taken, he and his wife Rebecca got their five kids out of their third floor apartment, the same floor the fire originated.

Like many living it the area, it was the scary scent that made them suspicious around 2 a.m. Wednesday.

“(I) smelled the smoke and immediately got everybody up and going,” he said.

As the Youngs watched dozens of firefighters battle the flames, it became apparent that the fire’s fury destroyed everything inside the family’s home.

“My main concern right now is, you know, our 11-year-old has seizures and his medicine was in there,” said Rebecca Young.

This isn’t the first time fire crews have responded to the closely built apartment buildings at the Seasons at Pebble Creek complex.

“We were actually supposed to be in this building on the other side and the building right next to it was the one that burned the first time, so we dodged that bullet, but now we have this,” said Jeremy Young.

Despite the damage, these parents of five know they could be dealing with even greater loss.

“We’re thankful that everybody got out, we’re safe. Things can be replaced, but still. It’s a loss, so,” he said.

People living in 24 apartments are currently displaced.

The Red Cross is working with the estimated 40 people without a home to find ways to help.

Fire investigators continue to look into what caused the fire.

Sixty firefighters kept the fire from spreading to neighboring apartment buildings — within feet of where the fire was burning. Capt. Dan Marlowe said crews were prepared, had a plan in place, and have responded to this complex many times.