Salt Lake City dodged a bullet when a fire raced to the edge of homes near Ensign Peak on Tuesday night, but city officials are tempering their celebration with the knowledge that the fire danger isn’t over yet.
“We are not done with the summer. Our fire restrictions are still in place,” Salt Lake Mayor Jackie Biskupski said early Wednesday as she surveyed the aftermath of the fire, which burned more than 100 acres. “We want people to understand that we live in a very dry community right now. … We’re very fortunate we didn’t lose any lives.”
Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Columbus Court resident Justin Peterson, who was holding a neighborhood pool party Tuesday, first yelled "Fire!" and immediately sprang into action with his neighbors to combat the grass fire in their neighborhood. Five people were injured and one home was damaged by a fast-moving grass fire on Columbus Court, Tuesday, July 24, 2018. Forty homes were evacuated as flames spread through about 100 acres. Between 50 and 60 firefighters responded to the fire.
Her comments came just a few hours before another grass fire started near 1900 West and Indiana Avenue (approximately 900 South) and burned between 4 and 5 acres. Salt Lake City firefighters had the blaze mostly contained within half an hour, a department spokeswoman said.
No one was injured and no structures were damaged. Investigators said they believed the fire was started unintentionally at a transient camp near Interstate 215, the spokeswoman said.
The cause of the Ensign Peak fire, near Utah’s Capitol, remains under investigation, but fireworks and lightning have been ruled out, said Salt Lake City Fire Chief Karl Lieb.
In addition to some 55 Salt Lake City firefighters and supporting crews from neighboring departments, residents of Columbus Court — Biskupski called them “heroes” — fought the flames with garden hoses.
Justin Peterson, his family and friends were having a backyard barbecue when the fire erupted about 3:30 p.m.
“We were literally in the pool, and we saw this huge plume of smoke drifting between houses — super dark, super yellow,” he said. “And I just yelled, 'Fire!'”
Peterson, fellow resident Dusty Holt and two other friends turned on their sprinklers, got hoses and began to fight the flames.
“It got so close to us over here that it literally burned the hair off my arms,” Peterson said. “Dusty was laying in his backyard, holding the hose up with the sprinklers on, trying to keep himself from getting burned.”
“It was extremely surreal,” Holt said.
Their wives and children quickly moved to evacuate, but within two minutes the fire had jumped over Columbus Court and their only exit was blocked by flames shooting about 20 feet high.
“It was insane. From where I was standing, it looked like somebody threw a Molotov cocktail,” Peterson said.
Neighbors above them came down to help the children climb the hill and escape the flames.
(James Semerad | For The Tribune) Hills are scarred by a fire near the Utah Capitol on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.
“Our kids and wives in swimming suits and flip-flops — or no shoes, in some instances — went up the hill,” Holt said. “So they all [ended up] down at the Capitol in bikinis, and the kids had floaties on.”
Between the garden hoses and fire hoses, no structures were lost. The fire damaged siding on a couple of houses, singed some decks and destroyed some fences. And a few “kids' toys” in Holt’s backyard.
Lieb credited his crews' “Herculean effort” in containing the fire within three hours with very little loss of property. And he pointed to the city’s recent purchase of portable tanks that allowed helicopters to drop water on the flames as a big factor.
The mayor and the fire chief encouraged residents to create a 30-foot perimeter around their homes, cleared of trees, bushes and tall grass.
“Those houses that do not have ... any foliage within 30 feet of their home are much more resistant to wildfire than those that do,” Lieb said.
Fire restrictions — including no fireworks and no open fires — remain in effect in all areas north of South Temple, east of 900 East and west of Redwood Road. And, while fireworks are not believed to have caused Tuesday’s fire, the chief and the mayor issued a strong warning, as fireworks remain legal in unrestricted areas through 11 p.m. Wednesday.
“Use the fireworks sensibly,” Lieb said. “We want everyone to enjoy the holiday, but, obviously, we want everyone to be safe.”
“No matter what, we cannot be in these neighborhoods with … fireworks of any sort,” Biskupski added.
Peterson said that late Tuesday night, after the fire had been contained, there were teenagers above his house shooting off fireworks. So he and another neighbor ran up the hill to confront them.
“I was, like, ‘Are you serious? You can see hundreds of burned acres, and you’re launching Roman candles?’” he said. “Unbelievable.”
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