A mysterious fire continued to smolder in an abandoned downtown Salt Lake City building nearly all day Tuesday, partly because fire crews were unable to go inside to extinguish it.
Capt. Tony Stowe with the Salt Lake City Fire Department called the fire a “conundrum” early Tuesday, saying, “I was there for four hours and pretty much walked away from a smoldering building that we’re unable to send anyone into.”
The building is the old Oriental Furniture store on the south side of 300 South, across the street from a Japanese restaurant, and it extends to Exchange Place. Covered with colorful graffiti, the building has been boarded up for as long as Stowe can remember, he said.
The former store is privately owned, Stowe said, but it’s been vacant for years. It’s been in use by unsheltered individuals, and was in such a state of disrepair that it should have been demolished, he said.
(SLCFD) Fire crews fight a fire in a building on 300 South from Exchange Place in downtown Salt Lake City.
Around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, fire crews had surrounded the building but couldn’t go inside to properly fight the fire because there were “too many unknowns,” Stowe said. Crews haven’t been able to identify where exactly the fire is located or how long it’s been burning, or if anyone has been hurt.
Stowe said that while crews are concerned the building might collapse, which poses a potential danger to firefighters, there’s no danger of it collapsing into the street.
Salt Lake City Fire Department Battalion Chief Dan Walker said Tuesday afternoon that parts of the roof had caved in. He said putting out the fire will likely be an “ongoing process,” as it continues to smolder and parts of it flare up.
Crews continue to monitor the smoldering building. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.