Spanish Fork man dies saving grandson from fire

SPANISH FORK — Zack Loftin said he was sleeping in his bedroom about noon when he heard his grandfather making a loud noise.

"I woke up to hear banging on the walls. I didn't know what was going on," he said. "I get up and I'm smelling smoke and I opened my door, and the smoke consumes me in my room."

Loftin, 19, said he went in the hallway and noticed his grandfather stumbling toward him. "I said, 'Where's the fire, Grandpa?' " He then noticed flames coming from the top of his brother's bedroom door.

Kenneth Larsen, 67, had noticed the smoke and flames and went to the second floor of the home to wake his grandson up, said Spanish Fork Police Lt. Steve Adams.

Officials believe the grandfather rushed upstairs — without his oxygen tank — in his hurry to rescue his grandson. But with smoke billowing all around him and rapidly spreading, Larsen was unable to escape and died in the blaze Wednesday.

"He's a great man, a hero to me," Loftin said.

After the fire was out, firefighters found Larsen on the second floor, dead from apparent smoke inhalation.

Officials estimate the fire caused about $130,000 in damage to the Spanish Fork home near 275 N. 700 East and the family will be displaced from the home. But Adams said that's of minor concern to them right now.

"They're distraught," the lieutenant said. "They're grateful Grandpa was able to do what he did and save the grandson's life, but they're definitely distraught over what happened to him."

Loftin said once he woke up and was in the hallway, he grabbed his grandfather, then went into his sister's bedroom to open up a window "to get some air." But when he called for his grandfather, he didn't respond. Loftin then yelled for his aunt and uncle, who live in the basement, to get out of the house. The uncle and his brother tried to go upstairs to help Loftin and Larsen, but they were drawn back by the smoke.

Loftin said he went back into his room and got out through the window onto a ladder that his uncle had propped against the house.

But Loftin said after the ladder had been moved to another window, he found another ladder and climbed back into his room to again try to find his grandfather. The smoke was too strong, however, so he went back down the ladder and climbed back up with a garden hose. But police and firefighters yelled for him to get down.