UPDATED: Fire torches central Ogden construction site; focus turns to determining cause
- A building under construction in central Ogden collapses as flames consume the structure Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
- Smoke and flames are visible above downtown Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, after an apartment building that was being constructed near 22nd Street and Lincoln Avenue caught fire.
- A plume of smoke and tall flames tower over downtown Ogden on Saturday, as seen from the city’s East Bench near Weber State University.
- DaVinci Academy is bathed in red and blue light from emergency vehicles at the scene of a structure fire in central Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
- Ogden City Fire Chief Mike Mathieu addresses the media Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, following a construction site fire the previous night at 255 22nd St. in Ogden.
- A firefighter is silhouetted against a wall of flame at the site of a structure fire in central Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
- Smoke and flames are visible above downtown Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, after an apartment building that was being constructed near 22nd Street and Lincoln Avenue caught fire.
- White tufts of smoke rise from the smoldering aftermath of a construction site fire at 255 22nd St. in Ogden on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025.
- This photo taken Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, shows the apartment building that caught fire Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, near DaVinci Elementary in Ogden.
- Thick black smoke rises above Ogden, as photographed from Interstate 15 on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
- The frame of an apartment building burns in downtown Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2024.
- As pictured Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, a building directly south of the construction site at 255 22nd St., where fire broke out the night before, was damaged by the blaze.
- Fire trucks douse the smoldering ruins of an apartment complex that caught fire in central Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
- Thick black smoke rises above Ogden, as photographed from Interstate 15 on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
- The smoldering aftermath of a construction site fire at 255 22nd St. in Ogden is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025.
- An Ogden police officer walks to his vehicle near a structure fire in central Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.
- Smoke and flames are visible above downtown Ogden on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, after an apartment building that was being constructed near 22nd Street and Lincoln Avenue caught fire.
- The smoldering aftermath of a construction site fire at 255 22nd St. in Ogden is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025.
Fire erupted at an unoccupied construction site in downtown Ogden late Saturday afternoon, sending dark smoke and flames soaring into the sky but ultimately not resulting in any injuries.
A five-story, mostly wood-framed apartment structure at 255 22nd St., located near DaVinci Academy’s elementary school and distance learning center, caught fire and quickly became engulfed.
At a press conference called by Ogden City on Saturday evening, Ogden Deputy Fire Chief Mike Slater said the initial call came in at 4:39 p.m. and firefighters were in an ideal position to respond.
“It’s actually just to the south of our main fire station,” he said. “Crews were on-scene immediately to find a five-story apartment building under construction with heavy flame and heavy smoke coming from the structure.”
The fire was whipped up by high winds that frequently gusted above 30 mph and prompted electrical shutdowns in the vicinity.
Slater said that despite the rapid response, the windy weather presented a challenge for firefighters.
“Due to the high winds coming from the east to the west, and the cold weather, we’ve had some difficulty fighting the fire,” he said. “The fire was initially contained to the five-story apartment building. It ended up spreading to the west to a building that is vacant. Fire crews were able to get inside of that building, they were able to get onto the roof of that building and they were able to extinguish that fire there.”
Slater added that several firefighters were positioned to the west of the structure to watch for spot fires caused by blowing embers and said nearby DaVinci Elementary sustained some minor damage.
“The DaVinci Academy had some windows on the exterior that shattered because of the heat,” he said. “We’ve been in touch with the superintendent of the school. He is extremely helpful and has been a great resource. We did get people inside of the academy; there was no fire inside the building. It’s been re-secured. There were some burn scars on the membrane roof of that, but they’ve been extinguished. There’s no threat to the DaVinci Academy right now.”
Ogden Fire Chief Mike Mathieu provided an update on the situation Sunday afternoon, noting that other buildings in the surrounding area also were damaged.
“We had some damage to the IRS building — one block to the west — because of embers that were blown, wind-driven,” he said. “And we had spot fires west of (Wall Avenue), which is almost two blocks away.”
According to Mathieu, no roughed-in plumbing or electrical work had been installed at the apartment site, which was still in the framing stage.
“There was temporary power in the southwest corner, which was then brought into the building to use for working tools, lights,” Mathieu said. “The only thing we have entering the building that could provide an ignition source that we know of right now is the electrical cords coming from the temporary power. We’ve ruled out every other potential ignition source that the contractor could have brought to the table.”
There also was a generator on-site that was used to operate a crane. However, Mathieu specified that the generator had been “ruled out” as a potential source of the fire. Preliminary findings, he said, indicate that the blaze was sparked in the site’s interior.
Mathieu said two detectives from the Ogden Police Department are assisting in the investigation of the fire, as are investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF.
“Once we look and find the origin of the fire, then we look at the cause. Then, if the cause involves potential nefarious activities or human beings being involved, then we call in our partners from the police department, from ATF, to assist us,” Mathieu said.
No injuries have been reported at this time.
“It’s going to take some heavy equipment to be brought in (Monday) and to remove much of the debris to get to where we believe the origin is, to get down to where we can start the investigation of the origin and the cause,” Mathieu added.
As a result of the fire, thousands of customers in the general area around the fire were without power, including businesses throughout The Junction and around Historic 25th Street.
“The power company had to shut a high-tension line down that was a danger to firefighters and was actively on fire,” Slater said Saturday.
He said a new power pole was being brought in from Salt Lake City by Rocky Mountain Power to replace the one that was damaged by the fire, but he was unaware of an estimate on when all power would be restored to the area.
Information provided by Rocky Mountain Power indicated that, as of 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 2,750 customers were without power in the area. By Sunday afternoon, electrical service had been fully restored.
Another 1,354 customers also lost power across the river in west Ogden on Saturday evening, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the two outages were related.
Videos shared on social media captured the fire and its wide-ranging effects, from flames flickering on bushes and patches of grass blocks away to guests at Tokyo Station holding their cellphones aloft so teppanyaki chefs could cook their meals in the Japanese restaurant’s dark dining room.
Slater noted that several fire departments beyond Ogden also helped in the effort, including Roy, Riverdale, South Ogden and the Weber Fire District. Off-duty Ogden firefighters also were recalled to duty to help with any other incidents that occurred during the blaze.
Among the witnesses to Saturday’s fire was Adam Figueira, a photography teacher at DaVinci Academy.
“I was over at our high school campus — which is just on the other side of (Farr Better Ice Cream) — and we were supposed to be having a play tonight,” he said. “I also teach stage crew, so I was there helping the kids get ready for the play. We saw the flames from there. The power went out, so we canceled the play.”
Seeing that the students and other play attendees were safe, Figueira grabbed his camera and made his way to a nearby parking garage to take photos of the event.
“It seemed like an important moment in the school’s history, so I figured I’d come and take some pictures,” he said. “I’m glad that it was an unoccupied building, at least as far as I know.”
Greg Compton of Riverdale was with his wife, Ellen, at the nearby Ogden temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — which was affected by the power outage — during the fire.
“In the past, when Ellen and I were coordinators, lights would go out now and again,” Compton said. “The generator would kick right in and it would supply electricity for essential areas. That’s a lot of building to generate. So, usually, the city power grid takes care of everything and it comes back on, but it didn’t. People were coming in saying there’s an explosion or there’s a fire in an apartment building and that emergency vehicles were everywhere.”
The loss of power limited the work that could occur inside the temple, as only a smattering of lights remained active.
“It was probably 6:30, close to a quarter to seven when we left the building. … Emergency vehicles everywhere; we can see the flames from the temple,” Compton said.
He noted that while there was bumper-to-bumper traffic on Wall Avenue, motorists were largely dispersing from the area in an orderly fashion.
Saturday’s fire is reminiscent of at least two other blazes that occurred in recent years. In June 2021, the wooden frame of what was to be a four-story apartment complex in the 300 block of 28th Street was burned to the ground. Then in August 2022, an in-progress three-story building just a couple of blocks away met the same fate.
Crews were working to extinguish the blaze — which was fully contained to the original structure area — at the time of the city’s press conference Saturday evening, and Slater anticipated it could be several hours before all of the flames were extinguished and hot spots dealt with. He said firefighters would be on the scene all night with crews being provided rotations, food and shelter from the elements.
Ahead of Slater’s comments, Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski praised those who responded to the fire, both from Ogden City entities and beyond.
“I want to start by first thanking the men and women of the Ogden Fire Department and the Ogden Police Department who responded and are handling this serious event,” he said. “It’s times like these that we can lean on our neighbors, so I want to also thank our neighboring jurisdictions who responded to help. It’s times like these that define the character of our community. We just couldn’t do this without them.”
Ogden Fire is requesting that anyone who may have witnessed or captured the fire’s initial stages call Weber Area Dispatch, 911 or contact his office directly at 801-629-8069 and ask for the fire marshal.