United States (Utah) - Two transients were taken to the hospital overnight after being burned in a fire they allegedly set inside a vacant building to keep warm in subfreezing temperatures. South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote said the men were in fair condition Tuesday at a hospital, where they were being treated for first- and second-degree burns. The two-story storage building they were occupying, near the TRAX station at 3300 South, was destroyed. Losses were estimated at $500,000, Foote said.

The men are believed to have lit a can filled with used motor oil to fight off the cold, but about 11 p.m. Monday the can tipped over, spreading the flaming oil onto the floor. The fire quickly spread. Crews responding from South Salt Lake, West Valley City and the Unified Fire Authority were unable to save the structure.

In all, about 30 firefighters labored into early Tuesday to extinguish the blaze. No other injuries were reported.

Crews were dispatched to the two-alarm fire after a passerby spotted smoke and flames coming from the warehouse, Foote said.

Charges of reckless burning are being considered against the two men, but Foote nonetheless was sympathetic to their plight.

" They were just trying to keep warm," he said, noting that with a number of abandoned or empty buildings in South Salt Lake and a growing homeless population, "It was just a matter of time before something like this would happen."

Written by The Salt Lake Tribune