Fire Chief Gary Whatcott said smoke detectors might have prevented a Sunday morning fire that destroyed a house at 9501 S. 1300 West and left five people dead.
Fireplace ashes ignited a sofa while seven people in the house slept. The sofa likely smoldered for some time before the smoke awakened anyone, Whatcott said.The victims are children of Karen Mette Lindsley: Todd, 17; Marie, 15; Heidi, 14; Lindsley's sister, Marit Baugerod, 50; and her mother, Mossi Andersen, 80.
The family had an open house Saturday evening for Baugerod and Andersen, who were visiting the family from Norway.
Whatcott said someone had cleaned ashes out of the fireplace about 5 p.m. Saturday. "Sometime during the night it (ashes) rekindled and started the sofa on fire."
Lindsley escaped the burning house along with her nephew, 22-year-old Gard Madsen, and called dispatchers from a neighbor's house at 4:41 a.m.
Firefighters arrived three minutes later to find the split-level brick rambler engulfed in smoke, said South Jordan Police Chief John Edward Parker. The heavy smoke, heat, flames and structural damage hampered rescue efforts. The deaths were not confirmed until 10 a.m.
Only the shell of the house remained after the fire was out.
Firefighters originally believed six people were inside the burning house after Lindsley and Madsen escaped but later learned a neighbor boy who had planned to spend the night there had actually gone home before the fire erupted, Parker said.
The two survivors were taken to a local hospital as a precaution and later released.
A next-door neighbor, Kurt Anderson, said his family was awakened by sirens. "We thought it was an accident in the street, but when I looked out, I saw the fire. There was more smoke than fire - a lot of smoke and just a little bit of flames."
Anderson said he was unaware that anyone was still inside the house until later. "It was a shock," he said, adding that the entire neighborhood was stunned and saddened by the deaths.
"I'll tell you one thing, it convinced me to prepare a fire escape plan for my family," Anderson said. "It's pretty sobering."
Parker said emergency crews were also affected by the deaths. A psychological "debriefing team" was brought to the scene to provide emotional first aid to fire-fighters and police who might have suffered emotional stress.
"It hit everyone very hard, as you might well imagine," Parker said. "I've been in law enforcement for 20 years and have never dealtwith a fire involving this many victims."
Parker said the bodies were recovered from the main floor and basement of the house. The cause of death was to be determined by the medical examiner, he said.
Whatcott said it appears Todd Lindsley been asleep in the basement near where the fire started. "He got up, got right into the smoke and it dropped him right there." Madsen escaped because his bedroom door, upstairs, was closed. "He was awakened by someone else yelling. He opened the door into the hall and said the wave (of heat and smoke) hit him and knocked him right down. He closed the door and got dressed and jumped out the window."
Staying low to avoid inhaling smoke and keeping bedroom doors closed while sleeping are safety procedures that firefighters routinely teach in schools. "If we practice these prevention measures they save lives," Whatcott said.
South Jordan firefighters and police were assisted by West Jordan, Murray and Sandy crews. The Arson Task Force was also on the scene Sunday.