‘Hardest thing we have gone through’: Couple speaks out after Eagle Mountain apartment fire

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah (ABC4) — A Utah couple spoke about the impact and loss they faced after losing all of their belongings in an Eagle Mountain apartment fire on Tuesday, August 26.

Shortly after 1 a.m. on August 26, Building ‘J’ of the Willow Springs Condominium complex caught fire, with flames spreading through the building. One resident was trapped inside the building and had to be life-flighted to the hospital.

Due to damage from the fire and water damage from firefighting efforts, all residents of the 12-unit condo building were displaced, many of them losing all or most of their personal belongings.

Jaxon and Paige Adams were sleeping at their Willow Springs condo when the fire began. Paige recalled waking up, smelling an odd smell and trying to go back to sleep. She said, “My eyes were still open, and I just heard someone yelling outside like, ‘help, there’s a fire, call 911’.”

Paige looked outside and saw smoke, ashes, and the glow from the fire. In a matter of minutes, she woke up her husband and they grabbed their kids and pet dog. By the time they made it to the door, a neighbor was already pounding on their door, trying to make sure all of the condo residents were out.

“We had our kids in our arms and basically everything else we could carry, and we just had to run out of our apartment,” Jaxon Adams recalled, “As we ran out onto the street, we looked back, and we could see the roof was just on fire. And it was surreal, you know, looking up and just seeing all the smoke and these huge flames.”

For almost five hours, Jaxon and Paige Adams watched as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, with family watching their two young kids. While they had been able to grab phones and make sure their entire family made it out, most of their stuff was lost.

Community Support

While their unit was not as damaged by the fire as other units, the Adams’ are unable to keep most of their belongings due to smoke and water damage. Jaxon said, “We were able to salvage a couple things, but mostly everything was ruined. So, we’re basically starting over, which is really scary for us as a young family.”

His coworkers, upon hearing about the fire, set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the Adams. They say that the donations and community support has been amazing.

“Honestly, it’s just very moving to see how many people have been concerned for us and have just reached out just to make sure we were safe,” Jaxon said.

Paige agreed, “This is, like, the hardest thing we have gone through together in our marriage and it’s comforting to see our whole community getting together for us.”

According to the couple, many of their family and friends have come together to provide them with a place to stay and financial support to help them get back on their feet. The Adams are currently staying with family while they figure out next steps and say they “don’t know where exactly we’ll be in a week.”

Despite the uncertainty, Jaxon says, “It’s really amazing to see how people band together and reach out to help us when they saw that we were in trouble.”

Nicholas Butts and William Hotzfield contributed to this story.