SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — One person was brought to a hospital with serious burns Friday after neighbors reported a fire in an abandoned house on Salt Lake City’s west side.
Cpt. Brandt Hancuff, a spokesperson for Salt Lake City Fire Department, said crews were called around 1 p.m. to a fire in a boarded-up property on Chicago Street, in the city’s Poplar Grove neighborhood.
Witnesses reported seeing someone leaving the home with “pretty significant burn injuries,” Handcuff said. Emergency crews brought the wounded person to a local hospital in critical condition.
Because they heard reports that other people might be inside the building, firefighters ventured into the burning structure. But when they found no one during their search, they shifted tactics and fought the fire from the outside.
“The good news is we’ve been able to stop it from spreading to neighborhooding homes,” Handcuff said, noting the firefighters were quickly able to knock down the initial flames.
Forty firefighters battled the flames amid 80-degree heat, stopping periodically to rest and rehydrate. They mopped up the remaining hotspots before leaving the scene. None of them were hurt.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
According to Hancuff, the fire department was stretched thin Friday as crews also battled a fire in a hay-filled barn on the city’s west side, not far from the Salt Lake City Airport. Crews were expected to remain at the barn fire into the night, as haybale fires can burn for “hours and hours.”
