Roland and Victor were standing there in awe. Roland said that ten minutes before when he had picked up his newspaper, there was absolutely no problem. When asked if there was anyone in the house, they replied that everyone was out. There were two Spanish families--ten people living there. Other fire engines began coming from different directions with their sirens blaring. 
It was about 20 degrees outside and we had been in a heavy inversion for the last several days. Even before the fire, we could taste the air. 
Flames billowed out of the front and back of the house. John called to me to come to the car so we could go to the temple. There was an emergency vehicle that was starting to park in front of our driveway but he moved to let us out. Already there was no was to exit the street to the east so we went around the block to get out of the subdivision. 
When we returned from the temple about 10:45 there were many vehicles parked along both side of 1300 West and doubled parked up and down the middle of 7200 South. We parked and walked into our home. There was a heated red and white tent set up in the middle of the road in front of our house for the firefighters and others to get hot drinks, etc. I saw five fire engines and numberous support vehicles. The chief was parked in front of our house. 
By now the street was covered with 3-4 inches of ice from the previous storm and the frozen water for fighting the fire. Victor had moved his new truck to our driveway for safety. Because John kept the drive-way and sidewalks clear, the were a welcome place for people to stand.
Roland said the main fire lasted for about 40 minutes. When we arrived two hours later there were still fireman on the roof.
Because of the cold weather it was difficult to get sufficient water to put out the fire. They used the fire hydrant near Seigfried Kunker's home and were still spraying for hot spots for hours. 
Notice the firemen on the ladder as well as those on the roof. There was still a lot of smoke. The heavy inversion made things worse. 
Firefighters came from West Jordan and Murray and there may have been others as well. The Red Cross came to care for the families which were displaced
The firemen and their equipment left about noon. The house was completely gutted. From the sidewalk I could see clear through the house and there was nothing but the walls blackened standing. It happened so fast!
It was said that the fire was caused from an electrical short in the ceiling. These homes were cheaply built in 1972 and used aluminum wiring instead of copper for the electrical outlets. We replaced our home's wiring many years ago but I don't know about this house. There have been many families in and out of the house through the years. Our street was without electricity until about 1:00 PM and it got cold inside. There wasn't a quick, easy way to heat food. I began to understood why the emergency support people brought food, hot water, emergency generators, a heated tent, etc. to provide for the firefighters and others. The only telephone that worked in our house was the one on the wall. The portable telephones were useless. I'm sure battery operated phones would have worked but they need to be recharged frequently. With the severe inversion we didn't light our wood-burning stove. It was a good learning experience. Even though we weren't injured by the fire, we were affected in ways that we didn't expect.
We were blessed that no one was injured and that the fire did not spread. It certainly was a wake-up call to remind us how blessed and protected we are. Our hearts go out to those who lost everything in the fire. We have a greater appreciation of the policemen and firemen for the work they do in keeping us safe. It is now Sunday afternoon. About an inch on snow fell overnight and cleared out the inversion so we have beautiful blue skies framing the burned out shell of a neighbor's home.
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