Child alerts family members to fire in their home on Donlee Drive

ST. GEORGE — Firefighters fought a difficult blaze in a home on North Donlee Drive Monday night, a multilevel unit fully engulfed in flames minutes after the residents called 911 when one of their children spotted smoke and flames coming from under a couch.

Multilevel residential unit is fully engulfed in flames on North Donlee Drive Monday night, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2018 | Photo courtesy of Scott Sayer, St. George News

Shortly after 10 p.m. firefighters and emergency personnel responded to the fire at 103 N. Donlee Drive, St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said. When they arrived, flames were coming from the upper two levels of the three-level home and Santa Clara/Ivins Fire and Rescue was called in to assist.

All occupants were evacuated safely, and nearby residences were also evacuated by police as a precaution.

Paramedics on standby during residential fire on North Donlee Drive that may have started in the living room of a residence Monday night, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2018 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Multiple fire trucks, engines and ladder trucks lined the streets as firefighters entered the building to extinguish the blaze, a job made more challenging by the structure’s location.

Steep hillsides and narrow streets made it difficult for arriving fire trucks to get into position, particularly due to the number of trucks responding, while the department’s ladder truck was set up below the fire and began dousing the flames.

The fire continued to spread into the attic area and into areas in between the first and second floor, with smaller fires reigniting as water began flooding the basement level of the home.

The fire appears to have started in the living room of one of the units and may have started from wiring that ran under the couch to a television, Stoker said. One of the occupants could see smoke and flames coming from under the couch, according to statements made by the residents when firefighters arrived.

Firefighters fighting blaze on North Donlee Drive that may have started in the living room of the residence Monday night, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2018 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

“There are six to eight family members that live in this unit,” he said, “and they were alerted by their son who was sitting on the couch in the living room.”

The official cause is still under investigation, and while it appears to have started accidentally, Stoker said, they will continue to search for the cause once the fire is completely extinguished and it is safe to enter the building.

Three hours after the blaze was reported firefighters continued extinguishing spot fires and embers, and remained on scene well into the night. The lower level of the entire structure was flooded, and the unit is a complete loss.

There were no injuries reported and the fire did not spread to the adjoining unit or to any other structures nearby.

St. George Fire and Santa Clara/Ivins Fire departments, Gold Cross Ambulance and St. George Police all responded to the scene.

This was the second residential fire St. George Fire Department responded to Monday night, the first near 200 South that the Fire Department said was caused by a dirty chimney flue.

Read more: Dirty flue sparks chimney fire in St. George home

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.  

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

 

 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

2 Comments

  • HappyCrap January 31, 2018 at 7:39 pm

    Great pictures .. Great Article

  • 12345 February 1, 2018 at 2:32 am

    I’m just glad no one was hurt

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.