Couple Barely Escapes Grantsville Home During Massive Fire

GRANTSVILLE, Utah – A Grantsville couple barely made it out alive after their home was destroyed by a fire.

The fire broke out at 365 S. Cooley St. around 6:30 Saturday evening.

Home video shows the house engulfed in flames. Rodney and Rebecca Hammond were inside at the time and didn’t have a clue.

“I heard somebody pounding on the door and I ran upstairs and they said, your house is on fire,” said Rebecca.

Rebecca said she yelled for her husband, then turned and saw him running down the stairs surrounded by fire.

“Just bright orange like you see on TV when they’re running through the fire,” said Rebecca. “He was running away from it.”

“When I looked down the hallway towards our kitchen, that’s all I saw was flames,” said Rodney.

The Hammonds got out safely just in time.

“Another few minutes and neither one of us would have made it out of there,” said Rodney.

Then, they had no choice but to wait and watch their home burn.

“It’s amazing how if a fire is hot enough, everything just disappears,” said Rodney. “Gone in 15 minutes, totally.”

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But right when the couple was at their lowest, is when neighbors stepped in to lift them back up.

“They gave us money, clothing, food, even chairs to sit on to watch the smoke go away,” said Rodney.

Rodney is a disabled veteran.  He said one person even brought him an American flag.

“My heart really went out to them and particularly as a military family who’s given so much to their community and their country in its time of need,” said Joshua Hunt, a neighbor. “I feel that we need to come together to give back to them in their time of need.”

The Hammonds didn’t have many words to describe the gratitude they feel for those who came forward in their greatest time of need, so they just said “thank you.”

“Last night at this time I was hopeless,” said Rodney. “Today, we have hope. I want to thank everybody.”

Fire investigators haven’t released an official cause, but Rodney was told the fire started with their air conditioning unit.

Neighbors say the Hammonds still need a lot of help and have set up this GoFundMe page in their name.