Firefighters douse truck fire in St. George industrial park

St. George firefighters responded to a short-lived vehicle fire on Industrial Road that may have been the result of an electrical malfunction, St. George, Utah, Feb. 22, 2019 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Firefighters responded to a short-lived vehicle fire along Industrial Drive in St. George Friday evening.

Just before 6 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to the area of 389 Industrial Drive where a work truck had caught fire behind a building, St. George Fire acting Capt. Ron Allen said.

Firefighters had to cut the lock on a fence to gain access to the back side of the building where they believed the fire to be located. However, once behind the building, firefighters found out the burning truck was on the other side of a fence in the yard of a neighboring building.

Fortunately only a chain-link fence separated the firefighters from the truck, Allen said, which still provided “great access” to the fire for crews to blast it with water.

St. George firefighters responded to a short-lived vehicle fire on Industrial Road that may have been the result of an electrical malfunction, St. George, Utah, Feb. 22, 2019 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Based on initial observations, Allen said, “it appears the truck had some electrical malfunction.”

The truck had somehow started up and ran into a trailer parked in front of it. There were signs the tires on the truck had spun out, and the tongue of the trailer was damaged due to the impact.

“When the truck met resistance and couldn’t go anywhere, it caught fire,” Allen said.

The front of the truck appears to be where the majority of the fire occurred before being extinguished. As for the trailer, with the exception of the tongue, the fire only caused some exterior damage, Allen said.

The fire was largely contained to the truck and no injuries were reported.

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