PICS: Historic church set for demolition burns down in Liberty Wells, 2 rescued from balcony
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A historic church scheduled for demolition in the Liberty Wells neighborhood burned down Sunday morning with two persons being rescued from a balcony.
Responders were on the scene around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning, May 26 at the Wells Ward Chapel, at the intersection of E. Hollywood Ave. and S. 500 East. The chapel is a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints structure that has been out of use since 2020.
The four-alarm fire saw three ladder trucks and 12 engines, according to Salt Lake City Fire Dept.
Batallion Chief Ryan Miller. Immediately upon arriving on the scene, crews found two people on an outdoor balcony and then rescued them. Miller said it is currently unknown who those people were or how they were related to the fire.
Miller said it took crews about two hours to knock the fire under control. As of noon, the condition of the building has not allowed investigators safe entry to be able to determine the fire’s cause. Once they’re safely able to investigate, the building will be demolished. Miller said the chapel had already been condemned and was scheduled for demolition in the coming weeks.
Neighborhood resident Kyle Pecora said he used to attend church in the chapel. To see it go down in flames, he said, was very sad.
“It was a grand building, the inside was beautiful,” said Pecora.
The building has been closed down since it was damaged in a 2020 earthquake. Pecora said neighbors had noticed “vagrants” staying inside the building and noted they had done damage to the inside of the structure.
Neighborhood resident Jonnae Nardone echoed Pecora’s sadness, sharing that she had hoped there could have been a way to preserve the chapel in some way.
“I think it’s really said,” said Nardone. “Its destiny had already been determined, but it’s sad to see it go down in a fire. My understanding is a lot of significant people in Utah’s history had attended that ward.”
Last year, Building Salt Lake profiled the church, noting the structure was built in 1926. The Salt Lake Tribune reported at the time that the chapel cost $45,000 to build. The LDS Church was in the process of selling it with the condition that the chapel be demolished as part of the sale.
Miller said it’s been a while since the city has seen a four-alarm fire, but with current conditions, it’s not surprising that it got out of control so quickly.
“We’re making a transition out of the winter months and into the summer months, things are going to start drying out,” said Miller. “Fires like this can start a lot easier and once they start easier, they’ll move a lot faster.”
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