WASHINGTON CITY – An explosion in the garage of a home at 266 West River Willow Lane this morning was the call-in to Washington County dispatch, driving fire responders to the scene.
“The first call came in at about 11:10 [a.m.] and pretty much [was] put out at 11:25 [a.m.],” said Ed Kantor, public information officer with Washington City Department of Public Safety.
“They were able to get it out fairly quickly, St. George Fire Department also responded at Washington City’s request.” He said that STGFD had eight firefighters responding and 14 others were from Washington City.
“They’re pretty confident that the source was something in the engine compartment of the vehicle parked in the garage,” said Kantor.
“They just seen smoke,” he said, “obviously they called and seen smoke coming out of the hood. So they came and put the fire out – I don’t know if they can tell if it was electrical or fuel related ….”
Kantor said that the garage and most of its contents were heavily damaged, but was unsure of what those contents were. “One vehicle was damaged extensively – it was a Ford truck, a pick-up truck, wouldn’t say Ford for sure,” he said.
Washington City Fire Department Chief, Jim Guynn, said that $80-100,000 in property damage is estimated. “It burned up several cars, ATV’s” and more, he said.
Kantor said that there is no evidence to suggest that this fire was intentionally set; it was in an enclosed garage. He said that it would be investigated and that when he spoke with Guynn, Guynn was confident that the fire was not intentionally set or a result of arson.
The fire department is still cleaning up the scene to insure there are no hot spots remaining. There is no present impact on local traffic or primary road arteries.
Copyright 2011 St. George News. This material may not be published or rewritten without written consent.