KDXU Sunrise Stories: Volume 22 

Statewide News – 07/31/23 

Crash Takes Three Lives in Salt Lake City 

Three people have unfortunately passed away due to a fiery crash in Salt Lake City. 

The crash occurred July 29 in the evening hours, when the police received a report of a car that crashed into a tree.  

The authorities arrived at the scene with the vehicle engulfed in flames. Once the fire crews extinguished the fire, three bodies were found in the car.  

State medical examiners are working to identify the victims. 

Missing Dog Returned After a Week 

Reo, a shit-tzu that was stolen along with a vehicle in Clearfield was found over the weekend after being missing for a week. 

Reo’s owner, Dee Thorrell, had her dog inside of her car while at a gas station when her vehicle, and her dog, went missing 

The dog was found with a family in an RV a week later when Thorrell and her family were passing out flyers. The RV family reportedly didn’t know the dog was stolen. 

Suspect Melissa Rush has been arrested on suspicion of the car/dog theft. 

Biden Visiting Utah 

President Joe Biden will visit Utah on August 7 as part of a three-state tour of the Southwest. 

No details have been given about the itinerary of his visit to the beehive state. 

This will be the first visit from a U.S. President since former President Trump visited during his tenure. 

Southern Utah/St. George News 

Monsoon Causes Multiple Fires Across Southern Utah 

Multiple fires broke out over the weekend due to lightning strikes from the monsoon season in Southern Utah. 

Let’s breakdown some of these blazes. 

The Plateau Fire has burned over 200 acres on the Arizona strip which was caused by lightning strike. 

The Meadow Fire is a 23 acre fire in Iron County, which was also caused by a lightning strike. 

Many other fires have broken out across Southern Utah but were extinguished thanks to moisture from the storms. 

St. George Residents Attempt to Save Unoccupied Home 

St. George couple, Judy and Dave Houston, were driving through the storm on July 29 in St. George when they saw lightning strike a palm tree (yep, more lightning) in the backyard of an unoccupied home. 

Judy and Dave decided to take the initiative and attempt to put out the fire before it did any more damage.  

They were able to hold the fire back by using a nearby hose and were able to endure until fire crews arrived. 

Hurricane Fire Crews Assisting with York Fire 

Hurricane’s Fire Department is assisting with the York Fire, a blaze spanning 80,000 acres in Southern California, since the fire is now approaching Nevada territory.  

Fire crews from across the west coast are trying to contain the fire, but there’s been no leeway yet in containing the massive fire. 

Industrial Area in St. George Catches Fire 

St. George residents looked on toward a tower of black smoke coming from a pallet fire in an industrial district on Park Street.  

While the fire didn’t span that much in distance burned, the speed at which it was burning was very dangerous to the structures in the area. 

It took the combined efforts of the St. George, Washington, Hurricane, and Santa Clara fire departments to put out the fire. 

More details can be found in our full article. 

Other 

Fun fact about Stockton Myers, the writer of Sunrise Stories. 

Stockton has reported on many fires since he began his career at Townsquare Media, but today has hands down been the most plentiful when it came to fire stories. He’s pretty sure if you did a drinking game with how many times he’s said the word “fire” in the past 24 hours, you’d lose recollection of the last week. 

Stay safe out there.