Firefighters are on the scene, SLC Fire Department reports
(Shannon Sollitt | The Salt Lake Tribune) Crews respond to a fire at 1518 S. Main Street on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
A fire at what appears to be a Mexican snack factory sent smoke up into the Salt Lake City skies Tuesday morning.
Salt Lake City Fire Department reported on its X account Tuesday that crews were responding to a three-alarm fire at 1518 S. Main. That’s the address of the La Rana Mexican Snack Factory, in the former site of the Golden Dragon restaurant.
Salt Lake City police posted that they have closed off traffic between Cleveland and Bryan avenues.
A fire department spokesperson on the scene said the first call came in at 7:20 a.m. Tuesday.
Firefighters began by attacking the fire directly, but encountered heavy smoke and fire — so the crews backed off and took a defensive stance, to protect nearby buildings, the spokesperson said.
All of the employees were evacuated, and no one was injured, the spokesperson said.
La Rana Snacks’ website advertises its “Duritos,” wheel-shaped wheat snacks.
(Jeff Parrott | The Salt Lake Tribune) Smoke from a fire at 1518 S. Main St. in Salt Lake City is visible from downtown office buildings and Interstate 15 commuters on Tuesday morning, April 29, 2025.
Smoke from the fire was visible from Interstate 15 and downtown Salt Lake City, an alarming sight for morning commuters.
Developers have been working on plans to build an apartment complex on the land where the factory and the adjacent Main Street Motel are located, according to the Building Salt Lake website. Those plans are tangled up in a legal dispute with the property owner, the website reported earlier this month.
The development is part of the city’s development plan for the Ballpark Station Area, first proposed in 2022.
This is a developing story.