BOUNTIFUL, Utah -- A Bountiful man has been arrested on arson charges after his home was engulfed in flames Friday night, officials said Saturday, and the man suffered burns after trying to put out the blaze by himself.
Bountiful Fire crews received a call to the blaze located at 39 S. 600 East. This is the second time the condemned home has caught fire in three years, officials said.
The next door neighbor, Tyler Lamarr, was working on his sprinkler system with the homeowner, Howard Treft, when the fire broke out.
Lamarr said he got his family out of his house and called the fire department.
"May 17 was the date of the original fire,” Lamarr said. “It burned out and no one ever fixed it. The insurance proceeds went elsewhere…and so now we have a situation where somebody has been living on or around the house for three years building fire to cook, sleep through the winters and everything. Bountiful City hasn’t done anything to take care of the problem.”
Lamarr said Treft tried to put out the flames with a hose.
"Howard had run in the back of the yard trying to put the fire out with his Weber water hose, and we could see the house was in flames," he said.
Chief Jeff Bassett, South Davis Metro Fire Department, said the home was burned quickly.
“It went up really fast," he said. "The house went up really fast, it had a lot of heat."
Bassett said 25 firefighters spent almost two hours battling the blaze, which was large enough to damage nearby homes.
“Due to the amount of heat, some of the double paned windows, maybe one was broke or both were broke," Bassett said of the damage to neighboring homes.
Treft was transported to an area hospital and treated for his injuries. He was later booked into Davis County Jail on charges of arson.
Investigators are looking into what started the fire.
