Firefighters from five fire departments struggled for three hours Saturday to subdue a blaze that destroyed 12 dwellings at Shadowbrook Apartments, 3852 South 1845 West. A crew remained on the scene throughout the night.
No injuries were reported.Damage was estimated at $1.5 million.
The fire apparently started in what appeared to be a makeshift bathroom drug lab in a second-story apartment, authorities said. Drug paraphernalia were found at the point of origin. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were summoned when the drug equipment was found, and they are continuing their investigation.
The residents of the apartment where the fire started had lived there only a short time, and authorities were unable to locate them on Saturday afternoon. Other residents said they did not know them well.
Few flames were visible when West Valley firefighters arrived at the three-story apartment building shortly after 11:30 a.m., but increasingly dense clouds of smoke were billowing outward.
"When they arrived there was heavy smoke coming out of the windows, which had exploded from the heat, and there were heavy flames inside," said Capt. Oliver Moore of the West Valley Fire Department.
By the time firefighters began their work, the flames had already gotten into the walls of the apartment. With winds out of the north helping the fire along, it quickly spread to other units and the attic.
"It was such a difficult fire to fight," Moore said. "It's really difficult to fight with that open attic."
Numerous trucks and more than 40 firefighters from fire departments in Salt Lake County, South Salt Lake, Salt Lake City and Murray were eventually enlisted to help.
Two hours after they arrived, firefighters gave up trying to save the apartments. All firefighters inside the building were evacuated and the fire was allowed to burn. When the roof burned through and collapsed, crane-mounted hoses doused the fire from above.
"We (went) into defensive mode," Moore said.
The two basement apartments were flooded with four feet of water from the high-pressure hoses, which produced 1,500 gallons of water per minute. At eight pounds per gallon, Moore said, "that's a lot of weight going in there."
Workers knocked out the ceiling between the six apartments and another section of the same building. The "trenching" contained the fire and saved the building from complete destruction.
Finding the cause of the fire wasn't easy. The ceiling of the second story collapsed and workers had to sift through the rubble to find the point of origin.
"That roof's going to pancake down and squash everything and they'll have to dig everything out," Moore said as he watched the firefighters leave the building. "It will be a horrid job."
And it was.
Residents of the apartment complex gathered in the 33-degree cold to watch the activity and commiserate with the occupants of the scorched apartments.
"I hate to see fire this time of year, with Christmas coming on," one firefighter said. "I hate to see people displaced. It depresses me."
The displaced families were regretful but philosophical.
"There goes all my stuff," one simply said.
Although no human injuries were reported, two cats had their fur singed.