A co-owner of the Salt Lake City bar where a massive blaze broke out Monday says firefighters had initially responded to a small grease fire that was contained to the kitchen — and had cleared the building to reopen.
But as they were leaving, fire crews noticed flames coming from the roof, said David Tran, who operates the London Belle Supper Club. The whiplash of those updates shook him from initial fear of a fire to feeling relief it was out to utter devastation at the loss of his beloved bar in 53 minutes.
Tran responded to questions from The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday about the fire that engulfed London Belle and also destroyed three nearby businesses — Whiskey Street, White Horse and Los Tapatios.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
He first heard there was an issue at 8:36 p.m., he said, when his manager at the bar texted him that a minor fire in the kitchen had been contained by the staff “after a short time.”
The Salt Lake City Fire Department has confirmed it was dispatched at 8:40 p.m. to the scene at 321 S. Main St.
Tran said firefighters inspected the area and confirmed it was safe. Once the smoke was cleared, he said, crews permitted patrons to go back inside. That’s when, though, one firefighter noticed the roof of the bar was on fire, Tran said. The manager texted Tran again at 9:06 p.m., he said, with the update.
Then the blaze erupted.
Salt Lake City Fire Chief Karl Lieb previously mentioned during an initial news conference on Tuesday that smoke between the ceiling and roof area in the kitchen grew and prompted him to call more resources to the fire at 9:21 p.m.
Tran, who wasn’t initially at the bar, said he tried to get there as quickly as he could. He arrived at 9:29 p.m. to thick black smoke pouring from the top vent of the building that was clearly wrecked by that point.
He’s not sure, he said, how the sparks that were contained in the kitchen ended up on the roof.
“Even with a fire suppression system,” Tran said, “I suspect the fire was above the sprinkler heads, limiting its effectiveness.”
The Salt Lake Tribune asked the Salt Lake City Fire Department what type of fire breaks the city had required between the businesses and what other precautions were present. The Tribune also asked what previous inspections by city fire officials had concluded, and whether firefighters initially cleared the building, as Tran said.
The department declined to answer questions from The Tribune on Thursday, citing the ongoing investigation into the blaze.
Lieb had said Tuesday that the kitchen had a sprinkler system, but he didn’t say if it had turned on. “The building did have safety precautions,” he said.
All restaurants in the city are required to have sprinklers in the kitchen area and a ventilation system if they cook anything with grease. Any cooking that releases grease vapors is also supposed to be done under a hood and with a grease collection mechanism, said Utah State Fire Marshal Ted Black.
The fire marshal’s office helps set state standards to prevent fires, and the requirements for restaurants were updated in the last few years to apply to all those businesses, regardless of when their buildings were constructed.
There is also a mandate to have a special kitchen fire extinguisher for grease fires, Black said. It’s not clear if London Belle had that. Tran said he is planning to talk to his employees for a full rundown of events this weekend.
Black has not inspected the scene of the Main Street blaze and only spoke generally about state code requirements for businesses. Based on Tran’s description of the fire at London Belle, starting in the kitchen and then surprisingly igniting the roof, Black said there are “circumstances that could make that happen.” But he said he wasn’t sure what happened in this particular case.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A fast moving fire on Monday on Main Street in Salt Lake City causes catastrophic damage to the businesses of London Belle, Whiskey Street, White Horse and Los Tapatios, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A fast moving fire on Monday night along Main Street in Salt Lake City causes catastrophic damage to the businesses of London Belle, Whiskey Street, White Horse and Los Tapatios, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
Most businesses, he said, are required to have an annual fire safety inspection done by their city fire department. The Tribune asked Salt Lake City for the most recent reports for London Belle and the other affected businesses and was told to file a public records request for them, which the newspaper has done.
Lieb said Tuesday he wasn’t immediately sure when the Main Street businesses that burned down had last been inspected. A fifth business also sustained some damage; that was Eva, a nearby restaurant, a city spokesperson confirmed.
The owner of Eva has posted online about mostly dealing with smoke damage.
The city did not immediately respond to questions about regulations for businesses and if more should have been done or required to create fire breaks between the affected businesses to prevent the flames from jumping.
“This building is essentially four buildings kind of piled into one,” SLCFD Division Chief Bob Silverthorne told Fox13 on the night of the fire.
The Salt Lake City Fire Department has a copy of its form online that businesses must fill out prior to an inspection. That includes asking if alleyways are clear of weeds, trash or debris. It also asks whether the business has a fire extinguisher — and if that is visible and readily accessible.
And it requires restaurant owners to answer if their kitchen hood system has been serviced in the past six months.
“Codes exist for a reason,” Lieb said at the Tuesday news conference. “Most of those codes apply to new construction or significantly remodeled construction.”
Black, the state fire marshal, said that’s the case with some of the requirements under state fire code, which Salt Lake City has directly adopted. Historic buildings — like those that burned down Monday, originally built in the 1920s — tend to be required to adhere to the code that was in place when their building was first constructed.
But if there have been major remodels or upgrades, then they adhere to the new law; and he believes that’s the case with the businesses on Main Street. The restaurant rules also apply universally.
The code, he said, is meant to help business operate safely and long-term; the point is to “decrease the level of risk.” “We want them to be in business,” Black said.
He also noted the chances of an owner reopening after a fire are about 50%. Most of the business owners have said they would like to return to Main Street.
Tran said he’s not sure yet of the future for London Belle.
“This event has been heartbreaking and has affected countless lives,” he said. “My focus has been on collaborating with community leaders to support our neighbors and the employees who’ve lost their livelihoods.”
The bar hosted an event at the Sky dance club Thursday night to try to raise money for its employees, hosting a Latin night like the ones that the London Belle had come to be known for. And Salt Lake’s Downtown Alliance has similarly launched a fund to help service workers. That raised $55,000 in its first day, and had topped $75,000 by Thursday afternoon.
Tran co-owns the London Belle with Frank Paulraj. When the first opened it in 2018, he said, “I had no idea what I was getting myself into.” He’d never run a bar or a nightclub before.
“I poured my heart into creating a place where people could come together, celebrate and make memories,” he said.
Tran said he didn’t sleep for the first two nights after the fire. He replayed in his mind the series of texts and how things would be different if the initial fire had gone out as he thought and the next 53 minutes were calm and quiet.