West Jordan house fire that killed 4, including 2 children, was arson, police say

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A West Jordan house fire killed four people, including two children, in a suspected arson.
West Jordan Police Sgt. Andrew Hercules said one of the deceased used an accelerant to spread the flames.
Police say they are still working to determine exactly who started the fire and why.

WEST JORDAN — A day after a house exploded and began burning in West Jordan, ultimately killing four people, neighbors are still in shock.

"It felt like a horror movie, you know? Like something you would never, ever see," said Elijah Anica, who lives next door to the home at 6340 W. 8270 South that exploded and started burning Friday morning.

Anica's parents were home when it started.

"They heard the explosion, completely ran out," Anica said of his parents, who saw the fire and immediately went outside to try to help. "They see the fire, and then they see a girl crawling backwards facing the house."

That girl, a child, was rushed to a hospital in a medical helicopter with critical injuries, but she died overnight.

"It was horrible," Anica said. "They didn't know how to see that. I mean, the girl was screaming for help."

West Jordan police said four people were killed in total: an adult man, an adult woman, a young boy, and the young girl who later died at the hospital.

"We believe that this was an arson that was committed by one of the deceased individuals," said Sgt. Andrew Hercules with the West Jordan Police Department.

The state medical examiner is working to positively identify the four victims, but police believe they were all part of the same family.

Police say they are still working to determine exactly who started the fire and why.

"I don't know all of the details on how, but what I can tell you is that the fire investigators determined that an accelerant was used to rapidly spread the fire," Hercules said.

Another family who lived in the upstairs part of the home wasn't there when the fire started, but they lost everything, including one of their two dogs, Charly.

"Unfortunately, she wasn't able to have children," Anica said of the upstairs neighbor. "So her dogs took the place of having children."

That family is now staying with the Anicas next door.

"Walking out there at night and seeing it completely dark, it was, like, it was really horrifying," Anica said. "We're all still trying to process it."

Police said there is no ongoing threat to the public, and they'll continue to investigate what led to the deadly fire.

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