By Pat Reavy
Deseret Morning News
Copyright 2007 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
DRAPER, Utah — Damage from a weekend blaze at a fire station in Draper is expected to reach $1.5 million, according to the Unified Fire Authority.
Even so, the administrative offices at the South Mountain Fire Station, 14324 S. 550 East, will be open for business again today.
“We were expecting the worst, but it wasn’t quite that bad,” said UFA Bureau Chief Dennis Stanley.
Yet the fire station was far from unscathed. The fire was reported just before 2 a.m. Sunday. Draper police officers David Jenkins and Kevin Easter had just finished responding to a call on Traverse Ridge Road when they noticed black smoke coming from not too far away.
The two officers went to check it out and found flames already shooting out of the roof of the fire station’s garage.
“My biggest scare is if someone’s in there,” Jenkins said. “We love the fire guys. They’re the ones who take care of us, and we usually don’t get to take care of them.”
Jenkins began pounding on the door about the same time dispatchers tried calling the fire station.
“We ran to the front doors of the fire house and began banging on the doors as hard as we could,” he said in his police report of the incident.
Just as Jenkins and Easter were preparing to break open the windows, the fire-station captain opened the door and realized what was happening.
“She said, ‘I think we’re on fire,’” Jenkins said. “I told her, ‘You are on fire. Get out of there.’”
Two vehicles were already engulfed in flames by the time police arrived. Fire crews worked quickly to get the remaining firetrucks out and start battling the fire.
Jenkins said one firefighter, who wore a T-shirt but no coat, started operating the pump truck in the 3-degree weather, with water from the hoses spraying back on him.
“I was impressed,” Jenkins said.
The two police officers then heard a cry for help around another part of the building. Firefighters needed assistance stringing hoses to the hydrant, and Jenkins and Easter responded.
At the height of the fire, flames shot 40 feet from the bay room. Two auxiliary vehicles, including one used for field fires, were “extensively damaged” and may not be salvageable, said UFA spokesman Shirl White.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated Monday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Having the ATF handle the case was not an indication that foul play was suspected, but officials wanted an outside agency to investigate the incident, according to the Unified Fire Authority.
Between structural damage and harm to the vehicles and other contents of the garage area, the financial toll of the fire was expected to reach $1.5 million, Stanley said.
On Monday, the fire-station crew took its remaining vehicles, including its main fire engine, which suffered some minor cold-weather-related damage, to another fire station in Draper near 12300 South.
“They will be responding from there for now,” White said.
A structural engineer was also expected to inspect the fire station Monday afternoon. The bay area was heavily damaged, but the rest of the station seemed to be in decent shape, White said.
“The part of the building with offices and dorms is unharmed,” he said.
The station’s bay area had no smoke detectors, reportedly because the exhaust from the firetrucks would keep the alarms going constantly. Stanley said the living quarters and office spaces do have smoke detectors. And not only does a fire wall separate the garage from the office area, but the bay area also has its own separate roof, he said.
Stanley also said the doors between the garage and offices close “pretty tight” to prevent carbon monoxide from the trucks from spreading. Because of that, he said, it’s understandable that a fire in the garage might initially be undetected in another part of the building.
Engineers on Monday were looking at the possibility of building a temporary bay for the firetrucks at the burned station until repairs can be made. White said the hope was for firefighters to move back in soon, since the office and sleeping areas could still be used.
Jenkins said the most important thing was that everyone got out safely.
“Roofs and firetrucks can be replaced,” he said.