CEDAR CITY – Five people including a 1-year-old baby were sent to the hospital Saturday afternoon following a single-vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 15, authorities said.
The 2003 Ford was traveling north at milepost 53 around 2 p.m. when a tire blew out. The car then went off the road, rolled once and immediately caught fire.
Three of the five individuals in the vehicle reported injuries including two female passengers who both complained of neck pain while one had a broken arm, said Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Bambi Baie. A male passenger was fitted with a neck brace and the male driver had contusions but was alert and walking around on scene.
All four were transported to Cedar City Hospital with one of the women later taken to Dixie Medical Center in St. George for further care. The baby was also taken to the Cedar City Hospital but only for precautionary measures, Baie said.
All parties were reportedly wearing seatbelts.
UHP was dispatched to the accident and was joined by Iron County Sheriff deputies, Gold Cross Ambulance and fire crews from the Cedar City Fire Department.
Before emergency responders arrived on scene however, several people driving behind the crash saw the fire and stopped to get the passengers and driver out of the car.
“It took two men to get the door bent open enough to get those people out of the car,” Baie said.
The driver said he bought the suspect tire in St. George shortly before leaving to go to Cedar City. It is unknown whether the tire was defective.
“It’s too burnt for me to tell what happened,” Baie said.
Northbound traffic between milepost 51 and 53 slowed to a crawl for nearly two hours following the rollover as responders tended to the situation.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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A car catches fire following a rollover authorities said was likely caused by a tire blowout. Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 27, 2016 | Photo courtesy of UHP Trooper Bambi Baie, St. George News / Cedar City News
A car catches fire following a rollover authorities said was likely caused by a tire blowout. Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 27, 2016 | Photo courtesy of UHP Trooper Bambi Baie, St. George News / Cedar City News
A car catches fire following a rollover authorities said was likely caused by a tire blowout. Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 27, 2016 | Photo courtesy of UHP Trooper Bambi Baie, St. George News / Cedar City News
A car catches fire following a rollover authorities said was likely caused by a tire blowout. Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 27, 2016 | Photo courtesy of UHP Trooper Bambi Baie, St. George News / Cedar City News
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