ST. GEORGE – Firefighters are investigating the cause of a house fire that occurred in the area of 1100 West and 1130 North in St. George Friday night.

Around 6:45 p.m., a woman living in the home had been smelling smoke for several hours and she called 911, Fire Chief Robert Stoker said.

“Upon our arrival, our crews found (the homeowner) had shut all of her breakers off for the electrical and we found smoke coming out around the wall area around the backdoor out of the kitchen on the back side of the house,” Stoker said.

As the fire appeared to be in a concealed space between the inside and outside walls, firefighters took axes and chainsaws to the wall in order to open it up and confirm their suspicions. Once the wall was opened, the fire inside the space began to burn rapidly as it was exposed to more oxygen.

Firefighters quickly put it out, Stoker said.

“We were able to extinguish that, and then we checked around the home, including the attic above the fire to make sure it hadn’t spread,” Stoker said.

Firefighters are investigating the cause of the fire, Stoker said, adding they were looking at some electrical boxes around where the fire started to see if they were damaged by the fire.

The woman who reported the fire was the only occupant in the home at the time and she safely evacuated the home prior to the Fire Department’s arrival. She lives in the home with her son and some pets, Stoker said. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.

Damage related to the fire — which include the demolition of the interior and exterior wall so firefighters could get access to the fire — are estimated to be around $2,000 to $3,000.

“Any time we’re dealing with a house fire, we’re always checking the concealed spaces above and below and we also use our thermal-imaging cameras to check for any hot spots,” Stoker said.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.