3-alarm blaze destroys Taylorsville home

TAYLORSVILLE — A three-alarm fire destroyed a home here early Tuesday, causing between $300,000 and $500,000 in damage.

The lone occupant of the 7,000-square-foot home near 1300 W. 6200 South was able to get out safely, but the home was considered a complete loss.

The fire was first reported by a neighbor who was twice awakened by the sound of broken glass, the second time just after 2 a.m.

Brenda Traveller said she at first thought someone was breaking into her basement.

"Then I peaked out my bedroom window and saw just flames," she said. "It was a huge fire."

All of the bedrooms in Traveller's house were just a few feet away from the fire. The heat from the fire caused her windows to break and the window frames to partially melt.

"There was just huge flames," she said. "I was pretty freaked out."

Across the street, Kurt Parker was also awakened by noise from the fire and quickly went rushing to the house to see if he could help.

"(The fire) just got bigger and bigger. (Firefighters) couldn't even control it," he said. "I've never seen nothing like it. I don't want to see another one that close."

The basement of the burning house was divided into two apartments. A woman in her '60s lived in one unit and the other was vacant, said Unified Fire Authority Capt. Jay Torgersen.

The woman was also awakened by the breaking glass.

"She looked out her window and saw an orange glow," Torgersen said.

The woman was able to get out before the fire reached the front of the home.

The owner of the house, who lived in the upstairs portion, was at her other home in Mesquite during the fire.

The fire, believed to have started in the garage, worked its way to the roof before catching the rest of the main structure on fire, Torgersen said. The cause was under investigation Tuesday.

Crews were forced to immediately go into a defensive mode to fight the fire because of the intensity of the flames shooting 30 to 50 feet into the air.

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