Man injured in Washington Terrace fire dies, children say

WASHINGTON TERRACE, Weber County — As the investigation continues into Monday’s fire that edged up against a Washington Terrace neighborhood, one of the injury victims in the blaze has died.

Ted Burrell, 87, was injured in Monday’s fire and died later that night, two of his children told KSL, son Bryan Burrell and daughter Sabra Jouett. He was the father of three kids in all, also including Charleen Summerill, and grandfather to six.

According to neighbors, Ted Burrell went back into his home during the fire for some reason, though an evacuation order was in effect, and got locked out on the back deck of the residence. He was eventually pulled out by firefighters after sustaining severe burns.

As Weber County Sheriff’s Office deputies were helping evacuate residents from the area closest to the fire, “they learned of one resident that was unaccounted for,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Tuesday. The officials encountered “thick smoke and ash” around the home, Burrell’s, it turns out, and ultimately located the man with severe burns.

“Deputies and other officers acted quickly and carried the male out of the home and away from the fire and transported the male to a nearby emergency room for medical care,” reads the statement. “Later that day, the male died from his injuries.”

Officials had said Monday’s fire injured a Weber County Sheriff’s Office deputy, causing minor injuries, and that another person, subsequently identified as Burrell, had sustained undisclosed injuries. Burrell — whose first name is Cecil though he went by Ted — lived in the one home that sustained minor damage in the blaze.

The fire in an undeveloped area south of Washington Terrace in southern Weber County torched around 45 acres on Monday, skirting close to a residential area, but officials said later in the afternoon that it was largely under control. The blaze had prompted the temporary evacuation of the neighborhood closest to the fire zone, but residents were allowed to return to their homes later Monday. Apart from light damage to Burrell’s home, the fire also caused heavy damage to a trailer in the driveway of the residence.

The probe into the cause of the fire continued on Tuesday, according to Karl Hunt, spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, which is heading the inquiry. Crews remained on the scene into Monday night and Tuesday to completely contain the fire, which left an undeveloped slope blackened.

Officials initially estimated the fire had torched 75 acres, but reduced that estimate to 45 acres after mapping the impacted zone, according to Hunt.

The Utah State Fire Marshal’s Office is also involved in the probe, but Hunt said the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands is leading the investigation. The U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, is also assisting due to the proximity of a Union Pacific railroad line through the impacted area, Hunt said.

“They’re the federal investigator because of the railroad’s proximity to the fire,” he said.

A rep from Union Pacific said Monday’s fire caused a temporary halt to train traffic, but added little more. A fire last week in Roy along a railroad corridor shared by Union Pacific and Utah Transit Authority destroyed three homes. That fire also remains under investigation.

“Union Pacific is aware of yesterday’s brush fire near our tracks in Washington Terrace. Train traffic was temporarily stopped as a precaution. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by local authorities,” Jill Micek, a spokeswoman for the railroad company, said in a statement.

The fire zone sits south of Washington Terrace in an undeveloped area that slopes down to the railroad line, the Weber River and I-84, just north of the Davis County line. A residential area sits immediately north of the impacted zone, where Burrell lived, and Washington Terrace officials ordered an evacuation of part of that area, along 5500 South, south to the fire line and from Adams Avenue west to 500 West.

Much of the land in the undeveloped area of the fire is owned by the Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management and is earmarked for future development of a state cemetery for military veterans.

Before news of Burrell’s death, Washington Terrace City Manager Tom Hanson had noted the concerted effort of the many fire departments that battled the blaze in keeping it from causing more damage. “If not for the cooperative effort of everyone and that unified command, it would have been a completely different picture,” he said.

The sheriff’s office, meanwhile, expressed condolences to Burrell’s family.