A Utah woman accused of setting a fire that caused major damage to her apartment building said she ignited a “tree of life” in her bedroom to burn away the sadness and pain in her life, police said.
The fire early Sunday in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City, left six of the building’s 12 units uninhabitable, the fire department said.
As the fire was being investigated, a 37-year-old woman approached police and said she had started it, according to an affidavit obtained by TV station KSL.
She reportedly said she “wanted to burn the universe, but didn’t want to hurt anyone” when she ignited the tree in a cauldron shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday.
She said she had difficulty starting the fire with a lighter so she poured a bottle of alcohol on the tree and tried again, the affidavit said.
When the fire started, she left her second-floor unit but apparently did not try to warn any of her neighbors. She told police she did pound on the garage door at a fire station adjacent to the building.
It was a Sandy police officer who happened to be in the area who saw smoke and started knocking on the apartment doors. Police Sgt. Greg Moffit told KSL that the actions of the first two officers on the scene “were paramount” to saving lives.
Both officers and one resident were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation, and a firefighter suffered a minor injury.
The fire department said eight apartments were affected; damages were estimated at $750,000.
The woman who reportedly confessed was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of arson.
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