News LIVE: Brush fire threatens structures near Mall Drive in St. George

Written by Mori Kessler
May 9, 2023

ST. GEORGE — A brush fire is burning near 2500 E Waters Edge, just south of the Virgin River near Mall Drive.

Cars pass flames and smoke as a brush fire burns near the Virgin River and Mall Drive in St George, May 9, 2023 | Photo courtesy of Britney Christensen, St. George News

In a St. George Police Facebook post, Officer Tiffany Mitchell said “there is a huge fire we are dealing with.”

St. George News reporter Mori Kessler is on the scene and is reporting that flames have engulfed an agricultural field.

“Just when it looks like the fire is going down the wind flares it up again,” Kessler reported at 4:18 p.m.

Fire crews and other emergency personnel are on site fighting the fire.

Eyewitness Jay Lane, whose horse stables are within a quarter-mile of the fire, told St. George News his property was spared likely due to the wind.

Smoke and flames from a brush fire near Mall Drive and the Virgin River in St. George, May 9, 2023. Jay Lane, who owns horse stables near the fire, said thick vegetation in the area has made it a difficult-to-reach fire for fire crews | Photo courtesy of Jay Lane, St. George News

“Fortunately the river and the wind pushed the fire back onto itself,” Lane said. “The timber and vegetation next to the river is so thick there.

“The biggest challenge is that there’s no roads to the heart of the area, so the fire department has been limited to trying to build fire breaks.”

3:10 p.m.: Initial emergency call for brush fire between Mall Drive and Bella Rosa.

3:23 p.m.: Mutal aid response from Washington City and Santa Clara-Ivins fire departments.

4:10 p.m.: Agricultural field engulfed in flames.

4:13 p.m.: Incident Command announces no evacuations at this time.

5 p.m.: Mori Kessler reports the following: “The fire has happened behind a stables area and had the wind blowing pretty well for a while with the burn happening in a wooded/brushy area. Firefighters appear to have knocked a bit of the fire down, but there are flare-ups with the wind.”

“When the flare-ups happened, you could hear the sound of wood being burnt and popping from a ways out, like it was a campfire.”

“A lot of people from the surrounding neighborhood out to watch the fire.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler@STGnews

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