Smoke from destructive Ogden fire first noticed by passing fire crew
Oct 17, 2025, 4:23 PM
Fire crews battle a large fire near 2900 Wall Ave in Ogden. (Alston Crosby, KSL TV)
(Alston Crosby, KSL TV)
OGDEN — A large structure fire near 2900 Wall Avenue on Thursday night took more than four hours to extinguish and caused $3 million in damage, fire officials said on Friday.
The fire at the Alphia pet food manufacturer was brought to the attention of the building supervisors by an Ogden Fire Department crew that was traveling near the scene.
The crew “observed unusual smoke color and volume venting from an industrial exhaust stack at Alphia,” the Ogden Fire Department said in a press release.
The crew then spoke with a forklift operator and an Alphia manager before they were escorted inside and discovered an active fire. Officials said the fire originated in an oven used to cook dog biscuits. It wasn’t immediately noticed because smoke from the fire was being diverted through the oven ducts.
Efforts to extinguish Ogden fire hampered by building’s layout
Another problem for firefighters presented itself with the construction of the building. It takes up an entire city block and as KSL TV previously reported, it’s made up of a series of add-ons.
“It just kind of creates … even more confusion once you get inside because there’s … what you would assume would be an exterior wall, is just a partitioning wall,” said Dep. Chief Matthew Hess with the Ogden Fire Department.
“Interior teams operated in zero visibility and faced significant ventilation challenges in the oven room,” the Ogden Fire Department said on Friday.
It took more than four hours for crews from Ogden, Riverdale, Weber Fire, and Washington Terrace to beat the fire down.
