Fireworks cause house fire, field fire in Sa..

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Firefighters dealt with a two-alarm house fire in West Jordan and a field fire in Cottonwood Heights on Wednesday night— both apparently started by fireworks.

At about 11 p.m. on the east side of the valley, near 2700 East and Ft. Union Blvd. (7200 South), Unified Fire Authority knocked down a field fire that burned a half-acre and threatened about four structures, according to UFA spokesman Cliff Burningham. The fire started above the homes near an LDS church. The flames came within 30 feet of some of the homes below the hill in a subdivision at 2600 East and Sanibel Cove (6900 South). The residents of those homes evacuated.

The fire is still under investigation but the cause appears to be fireworks, Burningham said.

The house fire began at about 10:40 p.m. at 5557 W. Joshua Circle (6700 South).

West Jordan Battalion Chief Duane Paxton said no one was home at the time of the fire, which did $3,000 in smoke damage. Firefighters had to break into the garage where the smoke was coming from. Only cardboard boxes were burned inside the garage.

Witnesses said the garage door was open a little bit and that people who were lighting fireworks in the area and ran away.

cimaron@sltrib.com —

Photo of field fire

http://twitter.com/CHPolice/status/220752778954420224

Fireworks cause house fire, field fire in Salt Lake County