Brush fire torches motor home, burns half-acre on Shivwits Reservation

SHIVWITS RESERVATION — Santa Clara-Ivins Fire responded to a brush fire that ignited Friday morning on the Shivwits Reservation, burning a half-acre of brush and fully engulfing a motor home parked next to a house.

Fire crews survey the aftermath of a morning brush fire on the Shivwits Reservation, August 13, 2021 | Photo by Darren Fraser, St. George News

Fire Captain William Tobler said no one was injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation. The department dispatched two engines, two brush vehicles, a command vehicle and a medical unit to the scene of the blaze, which ignited just before 9 a.m.

“When we first arrived, this RV was fully involved,” Tobler said. “Law enforcement said the fire started at the front of the RV on the driver’s side.”

Fire Chief Randy Hancey said his department was notified by St. George Power that friction from a powerline may have started the fire.

“We got information from the power department that think a line was rubbing on the bamboo (on the property),” Hancey said. “What possibly started the fire was the friction from the bamboo rubbing on the powerline.”

A powerline coming in contact with bamboo is suspected of being the cause of the brush fire, August 13, 2021 | Photo by Darren Fraser, St. George News

Crews at the rear of the property tended to a down powerline and smoldering brush.

 

According to the owner of the house, her sister was staying in the motorhome at the time. The owner, who asked not to be identified, said she and her boyfriend live in the house.

“My sister got out (of the motorhome) and knocked on the door,” the owner said.

Tobler said because the fire took place on the reservation, the Bureau of India Affairs and Color Country of the Bureau of Land Management would be overseeing the investigation

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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