One man was dead following a west Salt Lake house fire Tuesday night that also injured two other people.
The name of the 41-year-old man who was killed had not been released. He was pronounced dead at University Hospital, where he was transported after being found in a bathroom of the house suffering from severe smoke inhalation, Salt Lake fire spokesman Dennis McKone said.
The fire started about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday at a single-story house near 1300 South and 800 West, McKone said. When crews arrived, the house was fully consumed by flames. Crews were able to put out most of the fire in about 20 minutes.
Another unidentified male was transported to University Hospital because he went back into the burning house to get dogs. He suffered from minor smoke inhalation and a laceration to the head. An unidentified woman also received a hand laceration, McKone said. The two dogs perished in the fire.
Homeowner Ione Prawitt stared at her burnt-out house from a sidewalk across the street before heading to the hospital. She had lived there since 1976 and was not home when the fire started. "She just came home from work," said relative Tonya Prawitt.
The fire's cause has not been determined, McKone said.
Fire investigators had to split duties between that house fire and another. An unoccupied east-side house received $100,000 in fire damage around the same time the first house burned, Salt Lake fire spokesman Scott Freitag said.
The house, near 2500 East and 950 South, was vacant and being remodeled. Neighbors saw flames and called 911 shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. "When we got here, (flames) were going through the roof. It had been burning a while," Freitag said.
Its cause is also unknown. Nobody was injured in that fire.
An unusually high number of people have succumbed to flames and smoke inhalation in Utah in recent weeks. Fredrick Shepherd, 95, and Marie Shepherd, 91, Lake Shore, Utah County, died Dec. 5 after their house went up in flames. A Meals on Wheels volunteer first called 911. On Nov. 15, an 80-year-old Washington Terrace man died when a fire started in his electric blanket.
On Nov. 3, a woman in her 80s was found dead in a bedroom of a house in Park City. And in Holladay, Helen Hull was found inside the remains of her burned-out mobile home near 5000 South and 1200 East. A cigarette is suspected of sparking that fire Nov. 1.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com