When a Salt Lake City worker struck a rock while mowing city-owned land near the Willow Glen Apartments in Millcreek, he lifted the mower deck, moved the tractor forward and kept going.
But on a second pass through the area, he noticed something alarming — a fire had ignited in the spot where he hit the rock.
He stopped and grabbed a fire extinguisher from the tractor he was driving but it had “no effect” on the flames, according to an investigation by the Unified Fire Authority.
He called for help from his supervisor, who grabbed two fire extinguishers and rushed over from a nearby office. Flames had already climbed to about 10 feet, burning through dry grass, the supervisor told an investigator.
After the men tried unsuccessfully to put the July 25 fire out with those extinguishers, the supervisor drove away to another site to retrieve two more — but those were not enough, either, the report said. Then the supervisor called 911.
“By the time fire crews arrived, [the] flames had reached the large tree [on the property] and were being pushed north by the wind toward the apartments,” the report states.
The fire was first reported to 911 by area residents who saw the smoke and flames, wrote Jeffrey Nelson, a police officer and investigator for the UFA’s special enforcement division.
Nelson wrote that the fire was accidental and the case was closed with “nothing further to follow.” He did not comment on the strategy the two Salt Lake City workers used to fight the fire or the timing of their call to 911.
The July 25 fire destroyed two buildings and displaced 40 people at the Willow Glen Apartments. It also damaged multiple vehicles in a parking structure, the report said. The city of Millcreek distributed $2,300 checks to affected residents after the fire.
The Salt Lake Tribune obtained Nelson’s report Tuesday through a public records request. UFA had released the report to Salt Lake City officials on Aug. 14, said Shelli Fowlks, records manager for UFA.
Officials in Salt Lake City’s Department of Public Utilities declined to be interviewed. Instead, a spokesperson provided a statement Wednesday that said they are “reviewing UFA’s final investigation report.”
Public utilities officials did not comment on whether the investigation findings might lead to changes in policy or training, but wrote in the statement that “public safety and the safety of our employees remain our top priority.”
Officials said all of the department’s service equipment has fire extinguishers and that staff are trained on how to use them. “This unfortunate incident has deeply affected us all, and we are continuing to work closely with all parties involved to provide every level of support possible,” the statement reads.
Tenants who had to relocate, or had property that was lost or damaged, can file claims to receive payments from Salt Lake City to help with those costs, according to a statement from Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall provided by a spokesperson.
The city has worked with the city of Millcreek and the managers of the apartment property to tell tenants about that offer, the statement said. The spokesperson was not able to immediately say how many claims have been filed.
The fire started on a Salt Lake City property that spans more than 30 acres and includes two parcels. The city’s Department of Public Utilities manages the land as a maintenance yard. It also has several groundwater wells.
Days before the fire, Millcreek had sent Salt Lake City a notice that the overgrown weeds on the property were a violation of city code. Both Millcreek and Salt Lake City codes state that weeds are not allowed to reach a height of more than six inches.
SLC land behind her home is ‘10 times worse’
Margo Franta, a resident on Wolf Hollow Lane, witnessed the fire, according to the investigation report. A photo taken out the window from inside Franta’s living room shows the flames stopped just short of her apartment building.
Wolf Hollow Lane borders the south end of the Salt Lake City property where the blaze began.
(Unified Fire Authority) A screenshot of a photo taken from inside Margo Franta’s living room shows the burned field outside her home on 1255 E. Wolf Hollow Lane. Overgrown weeds in the field ignited during mowing on July 25, sparking a fire that destroyed 24 apartment units in Millcreek.
Christy Young, who also lives on Wolf Hollow Lane, said she worries daily that what happened at the Willow Glen Apartments could happen to her condo building.
“When I look out there (at the property) and I think of that fire, I just shudder to think of what could have happened,” Young told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I was so grateful when I got home and my building was still here and my home was still here.”
Young, who described herself as disabled, has lived in her condo for more than five years and has outfitted it with special features to make it more accessible.
Her building is one of six near the south edge of the city-owned land, closer to Van Winkle Expressway, she said. The overgrowth behind Willow Glen was “bad,” Young said.
But the portion of the Salt Lake City-owned land behind her home is “10 times worse,” she said, covered in dead grass and fallen branches.
(Christy Young) Tall grass and trees grow on Salt Lake City property behind Christy Young's condo building at 1225 E Wolf Hollow Lane.
“That day that Willow Glen caught on fire ... if it had jumped that stream and those firemen hadn’t gotten it out, it would have gotten behind the building where I live, and there would have been no stopping it,” Young said.
After the fire, Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini told The Tribune that Salt Lake City owns multiple parcels of land on the west side of Millcreek, which has had to repeatedly urge the capital city to better maintain its land over the years.
Mendenhall has ordered a “maintenance audit” of all city-owned property in the wake of the destructive fire.
Salt Lake City’s public utilities department said in a statement that they have “complied with the mayor’s request for a maintenance audit” and that data “will help guide any changes needed to further improve safety and stewardship of our facilities.”
Managing the ‘natural’ land
Because of the role the land owned by Salt Lake City plays in the water supply, the site is treated as a natural area and does not receive the same level of upkeep as a manicured park, Laura Briefer, director of Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, previously told The Tribune.
Jana Cunningham, a spokesperson for Salt Lake City’s public lands department, said the city prioritizes ecosystem health and biodiversity when maintaining natural lands. But this “natural approach” is balanced with “wildfire mitigation efforts,” Cunningham said.
The city Trails and Natural Lands Division manages over 6,000 acres, much of it near homes and businesses where wildfire risk is a concern, she said.
To reduce that risk, the city works with the fire department to identify and mitigate it, Cunningham said. Those efforts include clearing brush along trails and allowing residents — who get permits — to cut grass on city-owned land that borders their property, she said.
Notably, residents are not allowed to cut grass on city land between July 1 and September 30 “due to the risk of starting a fire in dry vegetation,” according to an online guide for the Citizen Wildfire Mitigation Permit Program.
Young said she hopes Salt Lake City cleans up the portion of its property near her home.
“It would be so much easier for everybody,” she said. “I mean, it’s just a match waiting for some fire over here.”
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