Firefighters respond to shredder truck fire at hospital

ST. GEORGE – Firefighters responded to a fire at Dixie Regional Medical Center Tuesday evening that turned out to be ignited shreddings in a paper-shredder truck.

Firefighters from the St. George Fire Department respond to a fire in the back of a paper-shredder truck parked at Dixie Regional Medical Center. No one was injured in the fire and no damage was done to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2018 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Fire crews were dispatched around 5:40 p.m. to the loading dock at Dixie Regional where they found a fire and light smoke coming from the back of the shredder truck, St. George Fire Battalion Chief Robert Hooper said.

The firefighters had the driver dump the paper out of the truck so the paper could be sifted through and the fire thoroughly extinguished.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, Hooper said, though he added it’s not uncommon for people to mistake bins used at offices for paper shredding as regular trash bins and drop something in that shouldn’t be there.

Items like metal binders or used batteries can be thrown in that jam the shredding equipment and ignite a fire, Hooper said, though he reiterated it wasn’t known if that was what happened in this case.

The Fire Department has responded to four or five fires in the back of paper-shredder trucks in recent years, Hooper said.

St. George News reported on a similar incident occurred at Dixie Regional in January 2018 and another in February 2014.

The shredder-truck driver was not harmed in the incident and the fire was contained to the interior of the truck and immediately behind it when he paper was dumped. It had no effect on hospital operations, Hooper said.

Two fire engines and eight firefighters responded to the scene.

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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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

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

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3 Comments

  • Caveat_Emptor February 21, 2018 at 8:29 am

    The good news is that the paper documents appear to have already been shredded, before the fire………

  • Striker4 February 22, 2018 at 8:43 am

    It’s a good thing those papers were shredded before they caught because who knows what kind of information could of leaked out to the Russians

  • Striker4 February 22, 2018 at 8:43 am

    fire

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