One dead in Sunset house fire

One person is dead after a house fire in Sunset on Friday evening.

Firefighters were dispatched to the fire, near 75 West and 2300 North, at 8:17 p.m. North Davis Fire District Chief Mark Becraft said crews were on scene within four minutes.

When crews arrived, flames and smoke were pouring out of the front windows, according to Becraft. The first firefighters to arrive knocked out the blaze “immediately,” he said.

After the flames were extinguished, firefighters went inside and found the body in a bedroom at the front of the house, where “heavy” flames had been, Becraft said.

No one else was injured. One person — a renter — lives at the home, according to Becraft, who said investigators don’t know the person’s identity. When reached Saturday morning, Becraft said no new information was available.

Becraft estimated the cost of the damage at $200,000.

Investigators are working to determine the cause and origin of the fire.

Crews from North Davis, Layton, Clinton, Roy and Riverdale responded to the scene.

Residents of Sunset have been critical of North Davis managing firefighting efforts in the city. In June, the city shuttered its department after realizing the station house and firefighting equipment needed significant upgrades.

In February, 2017, a crew attempted to respond to a fire, but the firetruck wouldn’t start. Sunset’s former mayor and his wife died in the house fire, a block and a half away from the station.

In May, the Sunset City Council moved to contract with North Davis, and by July, North Davis was providing firefighting services.

The council felt a new station and equipment upgrades would be too expensive for a community of 5,200 people in an area a mile long and a half-mile wide. The station itself was estimated to cost between $800,000 and $1.2 million.

But the Sunset Fire Department had long been engrained in the community, and the change was not popular among the public. Residents circulated a petition calling for a referendum on the change, and it garnered about 420 signatures. In the last Sunset election, 758 ballots were cast.

Mayor Beverly Macfarlane said the referendum will face another vote in 2019.