One day after her condo was consumed by fire, Vicki Rhodes still can't believe what happened.
The traveling nurse from Salem, Ark., awoke from a nap to find her condo filling with smoke. She rushed to put some jeans over her pajamas when she heard the glass of her window burst.
Rhodes ran to the window and sat on it for a minute. When she felt the heat on her back and saw the flames, she lowered herself out the window and held on.
"I hollered for help and they told me to hang on and they would get a ladder," she said. But she could no longer hold on because of physical pain and the heat from the fire.
"My fingers hurt," Rhodes said. "I guess that's when I decided that the rest of me wasn't going to burn."
That's when she dropped three stories to the grass below, landing on her feet, despite workers yelling at her not to jump.
Richard Duggar, Shadow Ridge Condo property manager, watched it all happen. He was on site fixing the lawn sprinkling system.
"She jumped, and I closed my eyes," Duggar remembers. "The only way they could get out was through the window."
Rhodes had arrived in Salt Lake City on Sunday evening. She had planned to work at LDS Hospital for about three months. But she now laments that she won't be able to work for three to four months.
Through it all, Rhodes feels her guardian angel has been watching out for her. Thoughts of her son and grandchildren also were a big motivator.
"I just thought, I'm not going to die today," she said. "I might get hurt, but I'm not going to die."
As a result of the fall, Rhodes suffered broken bones in both of her feet. Surgery was performed to put pins in and doctors say she will be in a wheelchair for three months.
Two other people also jumped from the building, according to Jay Fearnley, Unified Fire Authority public information officer. One was transported to a hospital and treated and released, the other was treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The two-alarm fire at Shadow Ridge Condos at 7180 S. Union Park Avenue was reported around 3:50 p.m. It quickly spread because of the way the building was constructed.
"One of the things that fed the fire was the attic space," Fearnley said. "The building was built in the '70s or early '80s and the construction was not as good for preventing the spread of fires."
Investigators believe the fire started on the second floor in a storage closet, Fearnley said.
People who lived in the outer 12 units were allowed to enter and exit freely without supervision. Those who lived in the middle 12 units, which are now uninhabitable, were required to have supervision.
Mike Avis, a condo owner in another building, worked frantically with Kevin Mahoney to get items out of a basement condo for a friend before they boarded it up.
"We're just trying to get things out and help her," Avis said.
Duggar and those who work with him boarded up the condos Thursday and will be guarding the building 24 hours a day.
The Salt Lake Chapter of the American Red Cross helped about four people, who are staying in hotels until they can make other arrangements.
While investigators say the fire is not suspicious, it is still under investigation. Damages are estimated to be about $1 million.
"I would not wish this on anyone," Rhodes said. "I'm just glad no one else was hurt."
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