Fire Guts West Valley City Apartment Building

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Flames quickly tore through a half dozen apartments Thursday afternoon, leaving several residents of a building displaced.

Firefighters responded to the Village Green apartments, at 3954 Emerald Green Dr., to find the upper floor of west side of the building engulfed and fire extending into the attic and roof.

“I mean, it went up fast,” said Patricia Walters. “I was on the phone with 911 just watching it go.”

Walters said she heard a woman upstairs yell, ‘fire, fire’ and she quickly sprang into action.

“After I got my dog and my grandson out, I went around to make sure they were all coming down,” she said.

West Valley City Fire Chief John Evans said investigators were looking into the cause of the fire.

Neighbors were already piecing together the clues.

Walters said it started in the apartment of her upstairs neighbor.

“She had been grocery shopping, she came home and put some groceries up on her stove, went back outside to sit for a minute because it was so hot,” Walters said.

Evans said all residents made it out of the apartment building safely — fortunate, he said, given the immense damage to the structure.

As Walters awaited word of her property and the condition of her apartment, she said she was grateful she and her loved ones made it out OK.

“We got out with our lives,” Walters said. “We’re all alive, we’re all safe — and that’s what matters.”