An affidavit filed by an investigator says Bruce M. Gann, 33, admitted to pouring and igniting gasoline in his home at 653. E. Wilmington Ave. The affidavit does not say what might have motivated Gann.
Prosecutors charged Gann in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City with aggravated arson, a first-degree felony carrying a possible life sentence. Gann also is charged with causing a catastrophe, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
He is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail.
About 10 p.m. Monday, an explosion and subsequent fire leveled the brick home Gann owned with his wife. The blaze then burned the adjoining homes to the east and west, leaving each with heavy damage.
Witnesses said Gann ran out of the home an instant before the explosion, his hair and beard singed. He received minor injuries. No one else was hurt.
