WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — An 80-year-old woman was found dead after police spotted smoke coming from her West Valley City home in the early hours of Friday morning.
In addition to the woman, several cats also perished in the fire, officials said. The exact number of cats was not made available.
Responders first received reports of the fire in the area of 3690 South near 3500 West at 1 a.m.
One crew started immediately on an interior attack on the fire while a second crew searched for people in the home.
"At that time found a female victim inside and brought her out," explained Battalion Chief Bob Fitzgerald with the West Valley City Fire Department. "She was beyond any medical attention that we could give to her."
It took less than 10 minutes to put the fire out, officials reported.
No information was given on the identity of the victim.
Fitzgerald said there wasn't a large volume of fire, but there was a lot of smoke which is what causes fatalities a lot of the time.
A police officer who was patrolling the area initially reported the fire. Fitzgerald said they are especially grateful for their partnership with the police department, especially in situations like this.
"We have a great working relationship with the West Valley Police Department," he said. "It's a partnership that, it's just invaluable to have that relationship and, and they do such a great job of helping us whenever there's anything like this."
Another factor that complicated the situation was the sub-freezing temperatures, Fitzgerald explained.
"It doesn't really affect us on the attack, but it starts to affect us as we're wrapping up depending on how much water we use because it forms the ice fairly quickly and it does complicate things," he said.
An investigation is underway to determine what caused the fire and to notify family of the woman's death.
