ST. GEORGE — Fire officials believe heat lamps were responsible for a fire that fully burned a shed containing birds in Cedar City Monday afternoon.
At approximately 3:25 p.m., Cedar City Fire responded to the shed fire in the area of 100 North and Gertrude Drive.
The shed was fully engulfed in flames, but firefighters were able to douse the flames quickly before it spread into nearby brush, Cedar City Fire Marshal Mike Shurtz said.
“This particular fire was under control very quickly,” Shurtz said. “We did have just a little bit of spread, but very minor.”
Investigation of the cause of the fire pointed to some heating devices stored inside the shed.
“Based on talking to the owners, it looked like it was some heat lamp type heaters. They had some birds in the shed and they were using heat lamps, and it looks like that was probably the cause.”
The birds were reportedly destroyed in the fire. The type of bird was unknown to the Fire Department at the time this report was taken.
“It did completely consume the shed,” Shurtz said.
Cedar City Fire received assistance from the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and the Bureau of Land Management’s Color Country District.
A multiagency response to such fires is normal in the hot summer months.
“This time of year, that’s pretty typical with the red flag conditions that we have – hot, dry and windy,” Shurtz said of the response. “We get a pretty robust response right out of the gate, and then just scale that back.”
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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