ST. GEORGE —More than a dozen police and fire units responded to a suspicious boat fire reported off a dirt road near Sand Hollow Reservoir early Sunday morning. The fire’s origination remains under investigation.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Graham Hancock told St. George News the incident was reported Sunday, after an individual called 911 reporting a fire that was burning in the Warner Valley area, in a remote location near Sky Ranch just south of Sand Hollow Reservoir in Washington County.
Fire crews arrived to find the blaze spreading through both the boat and trailer that by then was fully involved in flames. Several minutes later, the fire was extinguished. But the boat and trailer already were completely destroyed by the blaze, authorities said.
The reader-submitted video can be viewed at the top of this report.
In an email sent to St. George News about the incident, a reader said after calling 911 they talked to deputies at the scene, along with other witnesses, and reported seeing a pickup truck “flying down the road at about 50 mph hauling a big boat.” The truck “flew” past their vehicle as it headed south along one of the frontage roads and then disappeared from sight.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the reader wrote, that same pickup “flew back into Hurricane,” minus the boat.
Shortly after seeing the pickup pass by, the reader said they looked over and saw a “huge mushroom cloud and massive flames” burning less than 3 miles from where they were sitting, and when they drove down to the area they saw a boat burning in a ditch just off the roadway and called 911 to report the incident.
Minutes later, two fire engines and multiple officers responded to the scene.
Hancock confirmed the reader’s account by saying, “We had witnesses that reported seeing the truck hauling a boat pass by, but then it came back out without the boat,” information he said was included in the report.
Investigators remained at the scene for several hours, gathering information and collecting what evidence they could find as they processed the scene, Hancock said. The incident remains under investigation by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Utah Fire Marshal.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 435-656-6500.
Because the investigation is still active and ongoing, Hancock said no further details are being released at this time.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.