Fire damages Salt Lake apartments

Lisa Smith had just wished her husband a happy birthday as he left for work and was making breakfast with her brother when the neighbors started screaming.

Opening the door to see what was going on, Smith discovered her apartment building was on fire.

Smith, her brother and everyone else in the building escaped unharmed. But the building at 776 N. 300 West sustained $135,000 worth of damage in the two-alarm fire, which may have been started by an arsonist.

"At least we're alive," Smith said later.

Firefighters responding to the 10:24 a.m. blaze found a 30- to 40-foot column of black smoke and flames coming from the top floor at the rear of the three-story building, said Unified Fire Authority spokesman Scott Freitag.

Ray Felsted, owner of the building, said the area where the fire started is not supposed to be inhabited by occupants.

"I checked it yesterday, and it was secure," he said. "Someone broke in or an ex-tenant may still have keys."

Tenant Holly Lowe said she saw a former roommate who had left almost a year ago in the vacant unit the night before and had "run him off." She said the man had a tendency to start fires when under the influence of drugs.

Freitag said police are looking for a Hispanic male in his twenties seen in the complex around 5 a.m.

Tenants of the four bottom units were forced onto a side street to watch the top two units burn.

"I was crying when I saw the flames because we just moved in there," said Fiapo Halai, who moved into her unit with her two children on Thursday.

The rear balconies were consumed and the top two units were seriously damaged along with areas of the attic and roof. Assistant Battalion Chief Dennis McKone estimated the damage at $135,000.

Because the fire was contained to the vacant top units in the rear of the building, the tenants of the bottom units were allowed to return to their apartments Tuesday evening, Freitag said. Power lines were damaged, however, and it will take time to repair and restore full utilities to the apartments, he said.

The fire closed down 300 West between 600 North and 800 North for several hours. It took firefighters about 90 minutes to put out the fire.

Freitag said the mattress was most likely lit by the same person who started the fire but wasn't sure which occurred first.

---

E-mail: akirk@desnews.com