Matthew Nelson, 43, was arrested after a Friday morning fire burned about an acre in Memory Grove, a downtown Salt Lake City park, and sent firefighters racing in before the blaze could spread farther down the slope.
Firefighters with the Salt Lake County Fire Department got to the fire within four minutes of the first reports and began protecting property while attacking the flames. They held the fire to the lower section of the slope, brought it under control and stayed on scene to mop up after a small flare-up.
The quick response mattered because the fire did not stay a small patch of grass for long. Officials said about 15 trees were burned, each valued at approximately $1,000, and police later arrested Nelson on reckless burning and other felony charges, including second-degree felony property damage and felony possession of methamphetamine, along with Class B misdemeanors for possession of drug paraphernalia and obstruction of justice.
Zachary Wilkerson, who saw the scene, called it “a little scary” because it was so close to nearby homes and said, “Thank God the fire department was able to get out super fast.” Lance Weekley also praised the response, saying he could not be more thankful for law enforcement and fire crews. His relief matched the way the fire was reported: fast, visible and close enough to unsettle anyone living nearby.
Investigators have not said what sparked the fire, but the setting matters. Memory Grove sits in a Wildland-Urban Interface area, where open flames and heat sources are tightly restricted because neighborhoods and dense vegetation sit side by side. Battalion Chief Charlie Halvorsen said people need to be “very, very mindful” of those restrictions. For now, the arrest answers who was taken into custody. It does not answer why the fire started in the first place.
