Fire in rooftop heating unit causes temporary closure of McDonald’s in Cedar City

Written by Jeff Richards
December 24, 2022

CEDAR CITY — An early morning fire that was confined to a heating unit on the roof at McDonald’s in Cedar City caused the restaurant to close for a few hours on Saturday.

Firefighters respond to a report of a fire at McDonald’s, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 24, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The fire was reported at approximately 1 a.m. when employees reportedly smelled smoke and could see it up near the ceiling, Cedar City Fire Chief Mike Phillips told Cedar City News at the scene.

The building, which had a few employees inside but no customers, was immediately evacuated. The vehicles waiting in the drive-through lane were also directed to leave, according to Cedar City Police officers who had blocked off traffic leading into the store’s parking lot, near the corner of 1000 West and 200 North.

“We killed all the utilities to the building,” Phillips said at the scene at about 1:20 a.m. as firefighters were moving around inside the darkened restaurant.

“We’re checking it out now, just trying to find the source,” Phillips said, adding that a total of 21 firefighters, including crews assigned to three fire engines, responded to the incident.

Despite being closed for three hours due to a burned-out heating unit on the roof, the McDonald’s in Cedar City was reopened in time to serve breakfast, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 24, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

A few hours later, Phillips provided an update saying that the cause was found to be a heating unit on the roof that had burned out.

No injuries were reported.

The scene was cleared by 4 a.m. and the store was reopened in time for the morning shift to start preparing to serve breakfast.

When Cedar City News purchased a biscuit around 8:30 a.m. the store appeared to be operating normally, although it was noticeably colder inside and a faint smell of smoke still lingered in the air. A store employee said a maintenance crew had been called to come in and repair or replace the damaged heater.

This report is based on preliminary statements from fire officials and other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons and one granddaughter. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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