ST. GEORGE — A machine meant to simulate a wind tunnel brought firefighters to the children’s museum in St. George after reports of smoke in the building.

St. George Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Brad Esplin told St. George News that crews were paged to a “strong smell of smoke in the basement” of the St. George Children’s Museum at 3:21 p.m. on Tuesday.

Museum staff called 911 and evacuated the building with the help of St. George Police Department officers while waiting for the fire department, Esplin added. When firefighters arrived, they confirmed the smell of smoke in the basement.

“They isolated it to a wind tunnel machine — a prop for the science room,” he said. “They were able to take it apart and isolate it to an element inside of the machine.”

While the machine is used to create wind storm simulations, a heating element inside the machine can be turned on to produce fog, Esplin added. The heating element was disconnected by firefighters as others ventilated the room.

St. George Children’s Museum Board Chairman Kurt Ivie praised the museum staff who evacuated the building as a precaution.

“The electrical issue has been completely isolated and the rest of the building has been deemed safe as well,” he said. “There was an issue with the vortex wind tunnel.”

Although the public was not in danger, the staff followed policies and procedures outlined for situations such as these, Ivie added.

“They will be closed for the rest of the day but the museum will be completely open during regular business hours tomorrow,” he said. “The staff did well to evacuate and the fire department did a great job of finding and taking care of the problem.”

The evacuation happened just days after the museum celebrated its 10th anniversary this past weekend, as previously reported by St. George News.

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

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.