ST. GEORGE — Firefighters extinguished a fire that erupted Tuesday in the engine compartment of a passenger car that was stopped on northbound Interstate 15 under the Bluff Street overpass.
Shortly before 10 a.m., emergency personnel were dispatched to a vehicle fire reported on northbound I-15 involving a Toyota Camry that was stopped under the overpass at the Bluff Street Exit with heavy smoke coming from the front of the vehicle.
St. George Fire Battalion Chief Brad Esplin told St. George News that while en route to the fire, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on his way to an unrelated call passed by the vehicle, noticed white smoke escaping from the hood of the car and notified dispatch the car appeared to be overheating and the call was downgraded.
Right around this time, Esplin arrived in his department-issued SUV, which is when he said the white smoke that looked like steam quickly turned gray, which is when he advised emergency dispatch that further assistance would be needed.
A fire engine and the department’s Ladder 21 arrived quickly, Esplin said, since they had not yet had a chance to return to the station when the second call went out. Within minutes of arrival, the fire was extinguished, and fortunately, he said, it was out before it had a chance to spread to the interior of the car.
Esplin said the driver told police he was heading north on the interstate when he began experiencing some type of mechanical trouble and then saw smoke coming from the front of the car. He pulled off the interstate and stopped along the shoulder under the overpass where he dialed 911.
Police say the fire appeared to have started in the engine compartment, but the exact cause could not be determined. The fire caused extensive damage to the engine compartment, as well as the front of the vehicle where the blaze had spread, but the rest of the car was left relatively unscathed.
One of the primary concerns with this fire was that it was burning under the overpass of the interstate, Esplin said, which could have presented even further problems had it burned out of control, for example. Fortunately, he said, the fire was completely extinguished within minutes of the first engine’s arrival, and the ladder truck was at the scene for precautionary measures.
The vehicle was rendered inoperable from the blaze and subsequently towed from the roadway. No injuries were reported.
St. George Fire Department, St. George Police Department, Utah Highway Patrol and Utah Department of Transportation’s Incident Management Team responded and tended to the scene.
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