MOUNTAIN GREEN — A mother and son lost more than two decades of memories after their home caught fire.
The blaze started around noon Tuesday at 5045 W. Old Highway Road in Mountain Green and spread into a nearby field.
The family dog, Spanky, perished.
Resident PJ Berg said he and his mother, Loydene Berg, were at a therapy session at the time of the fire. They are dealing with the loss of PJ’s father, who died in a random shooting years ago.
They lived in the home, which had been converted into a duplex, for 23 years. They lost all of their possessions in the fire.
“Everything, I mean I could probably ramble off a list, but it’s probably everything you have over 23 years,” PJ said.
PJ, an artist, lost sketches and his equipment in the fire. He also lost about 40 completed works — which he was trying to sell.
That doesn’t matter to PJ. He said he could repaint all of it.
“The thing that really kills me are the things my mom has about my dad,” he said.
The fire destroyed his father’s journals and pictures of his father, as well as a baby grand piano that his parents worked hard for many years to purchase.
“That kind of stuff busts my heart for my mom,” PJ said.
The cause of the fire is unknown, said Dave Rich, chief of the Morgan Fire Department.
The fire is currently under investigation by the state fire marshal’s office.
Crews responded to the fire when a volunteer firefighter was working across the street and heard what he thought was an explosion, Rich said.
The firefighter went to the fire station to report the blaze and to pick up an engine so he could begin putting down the flames until more help
arrived.
Several hours after it started, the fire continued to burn. It claimed the entire house, leaving only the facade. A television antenna drooped on what remained of the roof.
Authorities closed a section of Old Highway Road while firefighters worked on the blaze.
The Morgan Fire Department, Mountain Green Fire Department, South Ogden Fire Department and Weber Fire District responded to the call.
Weber Fire District brought brush trucks to deal with a brush fire east of the home.
PJ said he and his mother will probably stay with family until they sort out what steps to take next.
Comments