Residential Fire Causes Collapse of Roof and Extensive Damage to Home

A fire caused extensive damage to a home in St. George on the evening of January 30, leaving the owners with an unfortunate dilemma.

Fire Chief Robert Stoker of the St. George Fire Department provided details on the fire that started in the garage of the home.

Chief Stoker said, “We had a call come into the 911 center just after 5 p.m. this evening of a fire down here in the southern part of town. This neighborhood [Honeycomb Drive] sits just off of the very South end of River Road, just off State Route 7, the southern parkway.”

Fire crews found the residents of the home evacuated outside with two receiving minor injuries from the fire but were later cleared by medical personnel.

Chief Stoker said, “The homeowners were home at the time. They did notice a small fire in one corner of the garage. It’s a single-family home, single level with a three-car garage. The homeowner got the family evacuated from the home and then attempted to extinguish the fire while they call 911.”

The fire continued to grow at a breakneck pace. Chief Stoker said an unattended fire can double in size every minute, which means every fire worker is in a race against time. Such was the result of the fire on Honeycomb Drive when the flames caused the roof of the home to give way.

Chief Stoker said, “The fire got to grow quite a bit. When our crews arrived, we had a heavy fire in the garage area, again, it’s a three-car garage. Just after our crews arrived and started extinguishing, we had a failure of the roof. The roof actually collapsed into the garage area and the fire got up into the trusses and burn those.”

Despite the damage and size of the fire, the fire workers were able to extinguish the flames by about 7:30 p.m. Unfortunately, the fire damaged another home’s windows because of the radiated heat coming from the inferno.

The family that occupied the home where the fire originated had to find different lodgings, which Chief Stoker said may continue for a few days until they can decide what to do with their home.