A water heater pilot light that sparked flammable carpet glue fumes is being blamed for a Monday morning apartment fire that left a woman critically injured with second- and third-degree burns over 50 percent of her body.
The 11:30 a.m. blaze also seriously injured the woman's father, who helped get his daughter out of the burning apartment, and one firefighter, who received second-degree burns on one of his hands.Anna Marie Gomez Alarid, 30, was in critical but stable condition Tuesday at the Intermountain Burn Center at University Hospital after being burned when the blaze broke out in her East Central City apartment at 940 S. Lincoln.
She received third-degree burns on her face and hands. Rudy Gomez, Alarid's father, was burned on his legs and arms and was also taken to the U. burn unit where he was treated and released Monday.
Salt Lake Fire Capt. Devin Villa sustained burns to his hand attempting to battle the "very hot" fire.
Alarid and her father were installing "glue down" carpet on the landings and stairway of their upstairs apartment when the fumes found their way to a water heater at the top of the stairs, Salt Lake Fire Capt. Jeff Stansfield said.
Damage estimates were listed at $75,000, with heavy smoke and water damage to the two upstairs apartments.
The fire could have been much worse, Stansfield said, as several other residents of the four-plex were home at the time of the fire.
Kent Nelson, owner of the building, grabbed a nearby ladder to help evacuate the victims from a window.
"There weren't any fire exits, just the main door," tenant Tracy Jensen said.
But Stansfield said the apartment complex meets safety codes for a building of that type where a separate entrance to each dwelling and an emergency exit - like a window - exist.
Witnesses said they were worried about their neighbors and concerned about the fire spreading. The fire took about 15 minutes to contain.
"I looked out my front door and saw my friend's mom on fire," said 10-year-old Mikey Gallegos, who lives on the first floor of the four-plex with his grandmother, Lena Gallegos.
"I saw (flames) on her face, her clothes, her arms," he said. "It was scary. I grabbed the phone and was going to call the fire department but I thought I better get out and should save myself before I got burned. Then I called my grandma."
Lena Gallegos said she has lived in the downstairs apartment for 15 years and just recently renewed her fire insurance. She wept when she heard the news of her neighbor.
"Oh my, not her," she said. "Oh, I feel so bad for that woman and her father."
Stansfield said the tragedy should remind people to be cautious when using flammable materials of any kind for whatever reason.
"Glue, cleaning solutions, gasoline, paints and paint thinners are particularly at risk inside and around open flames," Stansfield said.