ST. GEORGE — A motorhome went up in flames in the dirt lot behind the Studio 6 Motel on Red Hills Parkway Wednesday afternoon, threatening to send the blaze up the hill to the St. George Police maintenance yard above.
No one was injured, though the recreation vehicle ended up being a total loss.
The fire was first reported around 4 p.m. as it sent visible, torching flames skyward seemingly eating away the RV. The dirt lot behind the hotel was just down a small hill from the maintenance yard for police vehicles as well as a SunTran yard.
Flames spread to brush on the hill right behind the RV and started moving up the hill toward the yard, giving responders an urgency to putting the fire out.
“The issue for us was the exposure,” St. George Fire Battalion Chief Ken Guard said of the nearby maintenance yard.
Luckily for firefighting efforts, St. George Fire Station 1 was just four blocks to the south.
Four engines from the St. George Fire Department responded to the fire and traffic was stopped for a time at the corner of Red Hills Parkway and 1000 East. Even then, with Dominion Energy gas line construction still ongoing on Red Hills Parkway that has already been slowing down traffic in the area, the short journey from Station 1 wasn’t an unimpeded one.
“Getting the rigs here was an issue because of the construction, ” Guard said.
Three engines from Station 1 arrived behind the hotel and aimed their hoses on the ground. Shortly after, an engine from St. George Fire Station 6 arrived and stationed itself on the maintenance yard bluff above and streamed down a line of water.
Engine 6 firefighters also formed a line at the top of the hill, stopping some flame right at the fence separating the brush from the asphalt of the police yard.
The streams crisscrossed, and within 30 minutes the fire was down to just the smoldering remains of what was an RV that was a total loss.
It was unclear what started the fire, though gas cans around the vehicle as well as a scorched stove sitting outside provided clues.
“It looked like the owner was working on the vehicle,” Guard said. “We don’t know if he was staying in the hotel.”
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Smoke builds from a recreation vehicle on fire behind the Studio 6 Hotel in St. George, Utah, on Aug. 5, 2020. | Photo courtesy Kevin Chaffin, St. George News A recreation vehicle burns behind the Studio 6 Hotel in St. George, Utah, on Aug. 5, 2020. | Photo courtesy Kevin Chaffin, St. George News Flames erupt from a recreation vehicle on fire behind the Studio 6 Hotel in St. George, Utah, on Aug. 5, 2020. | Photo courtesy Kevin Chaffin, St. George News A St. George firefighter mops up what's left of a motorhome that burned up behind the Studio 6 Hotel in St. George, Utah, on Aug. 5, 2020. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News What's left of a motorhome that burned up behind the Studio 6 Hotel in St. George, Utah, on Aug. 5, 2020. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News St. George firefighters mop up what's left of a motorhome that burned up behind the Studio 6 Hotel in St. George, Utah, on Aug. 5, 2020. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News A St. George Fire Station 6 engine protects the St. George Police maintenance yard from a fire below in St. George, Utah, on Aug. 5, 2020. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
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