SALT LAKE CITY — An early morning condominiuim fire in Salt Lake City drew a heavy response from emergency crews Monday, but residents say no alarms were sounded during the blaze.
Officials say they were called around 2 a.m. to the building at 425 South 1000 East due to smoke and flames coming from the fourth and fifth floors of the six-story Incline Terrace building. Nearly 100 emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene.
Crews could still be seen on the roof of the building just before 7 a.m., nearly five hours after the fire began. One resident told FOX 13 that it took firefighters nearly an hour to put out the flames.
The condominium complex is a few blocks west of the University of Utah campus.
Some residents in the complex were trapped on their balconies to escape the fire, leading firefighters to use ladders for evacuation purposes. One fire official said there was at least six ladder rescues.
FOX 13 spoke with residents who say no alarms went off to alert them of the fire. Instead, people living in the building went door-to-door to make their neighbors aware.
“In this particular building it doesn’t appear there is a central fire alarm system, which fire code at the time of the construction of the building dictates the level of fire protection within that. So, this was built in 1972 and so whatever the fire code stated was required then, this building would have been built up to," said a Salt Lake City Fire Department spokesperson, who added they heard alarms when they arrived on scene.
Four firefighters on the scene were treated on the scene for smoke inhalation and other injuries, with two being transported to the hospital. There is no word yet on injuries to residents in the apartment building.
People are being asked to avoid the area near 400 to 500 South from 900 East to 1300 East.
