Two fires in one day at Taylorsville home

TAYLORSVILLE — Two fires occurred at a Taylorsville home Wednesday, and authorities believe both were purposefully set.

The first fire started at 3 a.m. at a home near 5400 South and Bangerter Highway. The smell of smoke awoke Heidi Peterson and her husband. They put out a fire near their front window that burned the carpet, couch and curtain before firefighters arrived.

"The window actually was cut," Peterson said. "The screen was cut and the window was open an inch and a half."

Peterson called the incident "very suspicious," and Unified Fire Authority investigators agreed.

Peterson and her husband went out to buy a new smoke detector and came back around noon to find another fire had started.

"When we came back, my husband opened the back door where we usually go in and all of a sudden, we were hit with a bunch of smoke again," she said. The second fire was near the back of the house and "everything in that bedroom was pretty much destroyed."

Ben Sharer of the Unified Fire Authority said the double fires were "obviously suspect."

"There's no definite suspect, but we're following some leads," he said.

— Hunter Schwarz