Structure fire starts off North Temple early Saturday

Working structure fire at vacant building off N Temple and 1850 W. Please avoid the area. PIO not en route. Media staging at North side of North Temple at 1850 West. pic.twitter.com/nkMsZoCCfe

— Salt Lake City Fire Department (@slcfire) August 2, 2025

Capt. Chad Jefferson of the Salt Lake City Fire Department said crews arrived at the fire about 4:00 a.m. The abandoned hotel had approximately 30 units and had been boarded up for some time.

Jefferson said when the crew arrived, heavy smoke was coming from the front of the building, and a number of people were exiting.

“We helped three to four people evacuate as well that were inside. Clearly they weren’t supposed to be there as this was abandoned and sent stuff boarded up,” Jefferson said.

No firefighters or civilians were injured, and crews got the fire under control in about an hour.

Jefferson said it’s too early in the investigation to determine the cause of the fire, but they did have some witnesses to some things that were going on.

 “I don’t know if they were all living there recently, but there was plenty of evidence that people have been living there,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson warned that there’s a reason some buildings get boarded up, and trespassing can be dangerous.

“We don’t want people to get hurt and also that’s the property of somebody that shouldn’t be in there for a lot of different reasons,” he said.

Jefferson said if you notice people in a place they shouldn’t be, you can call the non-emergency line 799-3000 or use the Salt Lake City app.