Murray apartment fire appears intentionally set, around 50 people displaced

MURRAY, Utah — Fire authorities say a blaze that displaced around 50 residents in a Murray apartment complex was likely intentional. Murray police have one person in custody in connection to a large fire that engulfed the Stillwater Apartments early Thursday morning.

Murray City Fire Chief Jon Harris said that they received calls about a fire around 3 a.m. at the 24-unit apartment complex. He said crews from Murray Fire were on the scene quickly and assisted by Unified Fire and Sandy Fire.

Harris said investigations are underway to find out what caused this fire. However, he said there is no indication fireworks were responsible.

APARTMENT FIRE 726 East LakePoint Drive (off Vine St near 54th South) Here is my intv with the Chief —> https://t.co/72P4teXOsU the two pictures with fire are from Murray Fire, the other two I took when I got here pic.twitter.com/1bl0TdCSdw

— Mary Richards (@kslmrichards) July 1, 2021

“We do have a couple individuals we’ve deemed suspicious, that Murray Police is questioning,” Harris said.  Later, investigators cleared one of those individuals.  

Murray City Fire Assistant Chief Joseph Mittleman says a suspect is in custody, but they’re not releasing any details about a possible cause, yet.

“Witnesses gave investigators information at the scene that the fire may have been intentionally set,” he said.

The fire did not injure any residents, but Harris said one firefighter injured his knee in the process of fighting this fire.  

(Fire crews had to remove the roof of the damaged apartments because it kept collapsing, making it unsafe for investigators. Photo: Paul Nelson)

Residents Becca Twitchell and Kaitlin Muse live two units under the apartment where the fire started.  They were relieved to see the damage to their apartment wasn’t severe, but they were given only a few minutes to gather their essential items and get out.

Muse said, “I got some clothes and bathroom items like shower stuff.  I got stuff for my dogs.”

Muse and her roommate have a place where they can stay.  Other residents tell KSL the apartment managers are letting displaced people stay in empty apartments, for now.  Muse says she was surprised to see her apartment hadn’t been completely gutted.

“I thought our whole building was going to go.  I called my roommate and told her I didn’t think our apartment was going to make it,” Muse said.  “It did, thankfully.”

The fire Thursday morning was the third in a week to involve an apartment complex. A fire Monday morning swept through a Salt Lake City apartment complex. Monday night, an apartment complex under construction in Ogden burned, destroying several nearby homes. 

This story will be updated.

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