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Unified Police Officer Brandon Sulich was in his full-dress uniform and waiting to proceed to the funeral of a fallen colleague on Monday when he heard on his police radio reports of a fire in Kearns.
Sulich was under strict orders to arrive on time for the Monday memorial service for slain UPD Officer Doug Barney — but the fire was less than a minute's drive away.
"I thought, if Doug Barney were there, he wouldn't want us to stop any kind of police response because of him," Sulich said during a Tuesday press conference. Sulich drove to the house, at 4380 W. 5255 South, where he and two other officers are credited with rescuing an elderly couple who were struggling to get out of the basement.
Sulich said he arrived to find flames shooting from the roof, part of which appeared to have collapsed already. He ran downstairs and began urging the reluctant couple to make their way outside.
"I think they realized the house was on fire, but I don't think they realized how bad it was until the got [outside]," Sulich said.
Soon two West Valley City police officers arrived, having been stationed in Kearns to cover shifts for UPD officers who planned to attend Barney's funeral. Barney was shot and killed Jan. 17 by a parolee during a traffic stop in Holladay.
West Valley City Sgt. Trudy Cropper and Officer Scott Folkers rushed into the house, which police say was about 40 percent engulfed in flames, to find the couple in the stairway, with Sulich behind them. They didn't know he already had gone into the house.
"To be on the way to a funeral of one of your fellow officers, and to stop at a burning house — I think it's pretty amazing," Cropper said.
The officers tried to help the couple up the stairs, although they declined to be carried out. Burning debris and embers were at the closest door, so they continued through the house to the front, Cropper said. The officers placed the woman on a wheeled walker and pushed her outside, Cropper said.
As the man made his way to the front door, Sulich saw the fire worsen.
"I could feel heat radiating from the ceiling, and it was starting to singe around the corners," Sulich said. He grabbed the man under his arms and dragged him out the front door.
Fire crews soon arrived and began to put out the flames. Folkers said the crew told him the fire was just minutes from collapsing the ceiling and trapping the group in the basement.
Although the couple initially resisted the officers' haste, Folkers said the man's reaction softened when he reached the front yard and saw the damage.
"He kinda gives me a thumbs up and smiles," Folkers said.
The man and woman suffered only minor injuries. The officers were not hurt.