Deseret News (Salt Lake City): Man dies in Wendover apartment fire

Unable to escape a fire raging through his apartment, a Wendover man died Thursday morning.

Investigators believe 62-year-old Patrick Sawyer was trying to escape, but succumbed to the effects of heavy smoke, Tooele County Emergency Management spokesman Wade Mathews said. Sawyer's body was found next to the locked front door and firefighters had difficulty entering the apartment.

Officials believe Sawyer died from smoke inhalation.

The fire was reported just after 6:30 a.m. at the Bonneville Garden Apartments. Those who spotted the fire pounded on the doors of the tenants to get them out. All of the other residents of the complex safely evacuated.

"I thought I was going to end up jumping out the window. But the guy that was knocking on doors said that he would help me, he would go halfway up the stairs to help me come down, to get me out. He was an angel, he helped me out," Michelle Romero told KSL-TV.

Four of the 16 units were gutted by fire and considered a total loss. Two of those gutted units were vacant. The twelve other apartments suffered smoke and water damage, Mathews said. Two of those 12 units were also vacant.

Fire departments from several jurisdictions battled the flames, which at one point were in the attic and shooting through the roof, Mathews said. Firefighters fought the blaze for about three hours.

Mathews said Sawyer had lived at the apartment complex since 2000. He lived alone and worked as a blackjack dealer at the nearby Stateline Nugget Casino in Wendover, Nev.

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com