Just two days before Christmas, a West Jordan house fire left a family homeless without a clue about what to do next.
Homeowner Dennis Nelson and his three daughters helplessly watched as the fire engulfed the garage and upstairs bedrooms of their home at 8504 S. McKenzie Lane (4840 West)."I don't know what I'm going to do now," he said. "I don't have a single clue."
The blaze, which apparently started when a spark ignited an automobile gas pump, caused more than $50,000 damage.
As Nelson and a preteen daughter watched firefighters douse hot spots in the cold night air, he recounted the mishap.
"We were in the living room watching TV and heard an explosion," he said. "When we smelled smoke, we ran out the doors. A couple of friends were working on the car in the garage. They were taking the fuel pump down to the garage and must have spilled some gas and dropped the pump."
The fire, which started about 6:40 p.m., quickly burned through the garage door. It caught the aluminum siding and burned the outside of the house to the roof.
Inside, the fire burned the bedroom walls and into the attic.
West Jordan Fire Capt. Ray Davis said a spark from the pump caused the gas to explode and threw flames across the garage.
"We arrived to find heavy smoke and flames in the garage and the upstairs area of the house," Davis said.
The family dog died of smoke inhalation.