DRAPER — Salt Lake County firefighters on Monday morning continued battling a blaze that destroyed a 7,000-square-foot house in Draper as they sifted through charred wood, glass and other construction materials in an attempt to investigate the cause of the fire.
High winds Sunday night, coupled with the fact that the home was constructed of large pieces of heavy timber that provides, in a fire, "a lot of fuel," kept the blaze growing, said Salt Lake County Fire Capt. Fitzgerald Petersen.
"It's still burning right now," he said Monday at 9:30 a.m. "This is just a total loss."
South Mountain was a smoky glow most of Sunday night. Flames shot up almost 100 feet into the air. Smoke billowed hundreds of feet above the house into the darkened sky. The fire could be seen for miles around Salt Lake County.
The house, located in the gated community of Draper Heights near 14700 South and 600 East, was under construction.
The home's owner suffered a heart attack Sunday night. It remains unclear whether he was in the hospital before the fire started.
Dr. David Miller, a neighbor, was one of the first to call 911 about 6:45 p.m. Sunday. "I looked out my window and saw a wall of flames," he said.
Fire crews arrived to a house engulfed in flames on all floors. They did not want to risk the lives of the crews so attacked flames defensively outside the house with about 45 firefighters from agencies throughout the valley, Petersen said.
Crews were concerned fire was going to spread to Miller's house and another house under construction located on a hill above and sent units to evacuate and defend those houses. Those houses probably received smoke and water damage, Petersen said.
Miller said the intense heat from the fire damaged his windows. "The outer panes of glass broke. The inner panes didn't break."
Firefighters were expected to continue battling the blaze and dousing hot spots through Monday morning. They could not determine where the fire started Sunday night. Petersen did not have a damage estimate but was assuming the house was destroyed.
Miller said the house had been under construction for about three years. The home's owner is a salvage contractor and recently had been working on his home seven days a week. He and his wife, who live in Magna, were to move in within a month, Miller said.
"He told me that this morning," Miller said Sunday night.
More than 100 Salt Lake County residents parked their cars in the foothills and watched the house burn.
Pete Savage and his wife watched the blaze from 100 yards away. "There were a lot of booms like fireworks, kind of," Savage said. "We could feel the heat from here."
"It's sad," said Draper Mayor Darrell Smith. "It's the biggest fire I can remember in Draper."
Contributing: Norma Harrison.
E-MAIL: lhancock@desnews.com