MIDVALE, Utah (ABC4) — After a fire on the roof of an apartment building in Midvale forced residents to evacuate, Hillcrest High School opened its doors to help, and the Red Cross set up a temporary shelter inside the school.
The fire broke out at the North Union apartment complex in Midvale early Friday morning. Unified Fire Authority said that it looks like the fire started between the fourth floor and the roof, but the cause of the fire is under investigation. They said that there was smoke damage throughout the building, but the worst extent of the damage is still being evaluated.
Luckily, all residents were able to safely evacuate, and Eduardo Lopez is one of those residents. He told ABC4.com that when he first heard the fire alarm, he thought it was a drill, because they had an upcoming drill scheduled. They could smell the smoke, and as soon as they opened the door, they saw the hallway was filled with smoke.
“It’s kind of insane, just the thought of losing everything potentially, or for everyone who lost everything. Sometimes you see it in like the movies and stuff, and you never think it will happen to you, and then, everything changes,” he said.
Another resident, Jeremy T, said that he thought it was a false alarm at first. “Once it started getting heavier and we start hearing the firefighters come in, we start evacuating, and then I kind of got scolded for not evacuating fast enough, but I understand,” he said.
He said that he had to go straight in to work. “Start working with the anxiety of, is my stuff good or not? And just a bunch of chaos, anxiety, and stress on my mind.”
Kim Walters and Cathy Nelson are members of the counseling team at Hillcrest High School, which is located behind the apartment complex. The school opened its doors to residents so that they can have somewhere to go, and it’s where pets who were rescued were taken. The American Red Cross also initially set up their shelter at the high school, though it has since been moved to Union Middle School.
When they learned that residents had to evacuate, Kim and Cathy took to the streets to hand out water and supplies to residents. Kim explained that Thursday was actually the first day that staff were back at the school, and on Friday morning, they were in a meeting planning the 2026/2027 school year.
“Our VPs came in and said, ‘All hands on deck,’ and so we emptied out all of our cupboards of water and snacks that we have for students and wanted to come down and help as much as we could,” Kim explained.
She also had a message for residents: “Our hearts are broken and we feel so bad for you. You know, Hillcrest is such a community, and so even though some of these people are not affiliated to Hillcrest, you’re part of our family and we’re so sorry that you’re dealing with this. We’re here to help and support in any way we can.”
The American Red Cross also came to the scene to help. Leigha Westover said that the Red Cross is manning the evacuation center, meeting with residents to find out who has a safe place to stay overnight and who needs assistance and sheltering.
“What that means is that we are willing to put them up for a night on cots and be able to feed them breakfast, lunch, and dinner until they have a place to go,” she said. “We encourage them to go with family, friends, because that’s where comfort, compassion, but our volunteers offer the same thing, just not in familiar areas.”
The Red Cross first set up a temporary shelter in the field house at Hillcrest High School, but they later moved to Union Middle School, because power was out at the high school due to its proximity to the fire. At the high school, the Red Cross provided lunch for about 200 of the people who were displaced by the fire.
The Red Cross also has responders there to help if evacuees need medical care like access to medication or mental health services. They’ll also take down residents’ information so that once they find out about the extent of the damage, they can help residents start their recovery.
Leigha said that every situation is different, but right now, residents are most concerned about their medication and clothing. Her takeaway, she said, is, “Be prepared the best you can, have a plan, and have renters’ insurance if you’re renting.”
Initially, firefighters responded to a call for some haze in the building, but that quickly became smoke, and flames became visible from the roof.
“We have a counselor that is notorious for smoking lots of food at home, so when we first started smelling it, we kind of teased him, thinking he maybe smoked a pig last night, and then it just got progressively worse,” Kim recalled. “But it was really– we looked out the windows and said, oh, it’s a fire. We could hear the fire trucks. We saw very little smoke, and then it just became this, and it’s just… It’s awful.”
All residents were safely evacuated, and crews rescued as many pets as they could, but of course, this has been incredibly difficult for residents. Eduardo said that he hopes everything is okay, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty about what’s going to happen.
“It’s a lot of dread, I think, a lot of sadness. It all kind of just switched really quickly. It went from like, ‘Oh, what’s happening?’ to ‘Oh, we lost everything, we’re losing stuff…’ And then you see people who you know, who have apartments, and you just see a lot of sadness,” he said.
“Even if there’s chaos in our life, we gotta keep pushing on,” Jeremy said.
“It is absolutely awful and heartbreaking, and all these people that are dealing with the shock of this, and if we can give a little bit of comfort with some water and Gatorade, then we’re going to do it,” Kim said.
Midvale Mayor Dustin Gettel said that so many people have been reaching out to help that they’ve created a dedicated email address for people to use to offer assistance or resources, especially business owners who can offer hotel rooms, food, or clothes. That email is [email protected].
“We at the city are doing everything that we can, everything possible to fill the gaps and find housing solutions for the folks displaced today,” he said. “We’re going to stay with these residents every step of the way to make sure that they’re taken care of during this time.”
Gettel also said that Canyon School District donated food trucks and pizzas to help feed displaced residents.