Orange cloud rises over construction site blast

Orange smoke rises into the air as a blast used to assist in digging a new home's basement is set off. Toquerville, Utah, Feb. 7, 2017 | Photo courtesy of Summer Kirby, St. George News

TOQUERVILLE — A new home site in Toquerville raised some eyebrows Tuesday as crews blasted into rock while digging a basement, sending a large cloud of orange dust up into the air.

Orange smoke rises into the air as a blast used to assist in digging a new home’s basement is set off. Toquerville, Utah, Feb. 7, 2017 | Photo courtesy of Summer Kirby, St. George News

A worker on the site, Sunner Buffalo, said that while digging the basement, the workers came across solid rock and had to blast through it to complete the excavation. A machine was brought out to create a hole in the rock and a dynamite explosion was set off about 2 p.m.

Toquerville resident Summer Kirby witnessed the blast and provided photographs of an orange cloud rising up in the air. Buffalo said the smoke was simply that, and the color was due to the soil around the blast site being disturbed.

“Nope, nothing toxic,” Buffalo said, adding the only way that the blast would hurt you was if you were standing on top of the blast site when it went off.

Inquiries were made whether the location had a blasting permit, but an answer would not be available until Wednesday morning.

St. George News videographer Sheldon Demke contributed to this report.

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Twitter: @STGnews | @NewsWayman

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

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3 Comments

  • Not_So_Much February 8, 2017 at 7:06 am

    How do you have explosives if you don’t have a permit?

  • wilbur February 8, 2017 at 11:27 am

    Probably someone’s private stash.

  • Larry February 9, 2017 at 5:37 am

    Ooooooh Lentils….

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