CEDAR CITY – The Cedar City Fire Department extinguished multiple small fires that broke out along the southbound side of Interstate 15 Friday afternoon, stretching from 600 South all the way to Hamilton Fort.
Reports of the fires came in at about 2:30 p.m., Cedar City Firefighter Greg Orloski said. There were between three and four fires burning between Cedar City and Hamilton Fort along I-15 and Old Highway 91.
The brush fires had multiple starts, Orloski said, but the Fire Department was unable to determine a cause.
“We couldn’t pinpoint it exactly,” he said.
It took about 10-15 minutes for the small fires to be completely extinguished.
Cedar City had some help from a brush truck from Kanarraville, in addition to four of their own brush trucks. The firefighters also used a water tender, which holds about 4,000 gallons of water that is sprayed while the vehicle is driven.
Orloski said there are various ways multiple ignites can occur in the pattern found Friday; it could have been anything from dragging chains to the steel bands from shredded tires on an 18-wheeler, he said.
Because the fires were in such green vegetation, it was easy for firefighters to combat them.
“We’re lucky this time of year,” Orloski said. “We have the rains, and it hasn’t gotten too hot, so this time of year it’s still green.”
If it was any later in the summer, he said, the likelihood of the fire spreading would have been much greater.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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