ST. GEORGE — The end of the weekend kept Washington County emergency crews busy, with two fires reported four hours apart. 

Shortly after 3 p.m. on Sunday, Hurricane Valley Fire and Rescue personnel were dispatched to a vehicle fire reported at Sand Hollow State Park involving a utility terrain vehicle that caught fire on Sand Mountain, Battalion Chief Tyler Ames told St. George News.

The Hurricane crew was assisted by the Washington City Fire Department, who sent an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a holding tank filled with water to fight the blaze. When firefighters arrived, they extinguished the blaze that had spread through the UTV and left it completely destroyed. 

Fortunately, Ames said, no one was injured during the incident, and the fire had little chance of spreading to any nearby brush or other structures since it caught fire on Sand Mountain.

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation. Sand Hollow State Park rangers also assisted with the fire. 

Roughly four hours later, crews were dispatched to the Quality Inn on North 4300 West in Hurricane shortly after 7:30 p.m. on a report of a structure fire.

Crews arrived to find active flames on one of the outside decks located in the back of the building. An evacuation of guest rooms located in close proximity to the burning deck was initiated as a safety precaution, while firefighters attacked the blaze, which was extinguished within minutes of arrival. 

“We had just started the evacuation when the crews had the deck fire completely out, so a full-scale evacuation was not necessary at that point,” Ames said.

The fire damage was mostly confined to the wooden deck, while the interior of the structure received some light smoke damage, authorities said.  

Since the incident involved a hotel with many guest rooms that posed safety concerns, Hurricane Valley Fire was joined by multiple agencies to help cover any calls that came in while crews were tied up at the hotel. These agencies included the Washington City Fire Department, the St. George Fire Department, Hildale-Colorado City Fire Department and the Hurricane Police Department. 

St. George News reached out to Quality Inn but did not hear back.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. 

This report is based on statements from police, emergency personnel or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. 

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