Small grass fire threatens Provo firms

PROVO — Employees at a local Maaco shop had a scare Friday afternoon when flames from a small fire came too close for comfort to a group of East Bay businesses.

Sparks from a Union Pacific train started the fire in a field of dry grass at about 3 p.m., said Provo Fire Department Battalion Chief Troy Wilson. The flames were extinguished less than 30 minutes later, with only an acre burned, but Maaco employee Travis Fullmer said it was startling to see the blaze travel so quickly.

"This is the second time this has happened this year," Fullmer said. "The last (fire) wasn't quite this bad. ... (This time) we moved a bunch of cars (away from the field) just to be safe."

The East Bay Maaco store, located at 357 E. 900 South, is next to Union Pacific Railroad tracks that run through the area. Fullmer said a spark from the train jumped out when the locomotive was passing through and when he saw smoke, he and his co-workers dialed 911.

No one was hurt as the fire was extinguished, but at one point, firefighters were worried about protecting a group of dogs that were trapped in a storage facility next door to Maaco.

The dogs were not hurt, Wilson said.

"The dogs are fine," Wilson said. "They never were affected, and nobody was evacuated."

A spokesman for Union Pacific said the cause of the fire will be investigated.

"Our operations are mainly outdoors, so any number of incidents can happen," said James Barnes, Union Pacific director of regional public affairs. "We're thankful that there were no injuries and the local fire department was able to respond. The incident has an unknown cause according to our records. ... We investigate all incidents near our right of way. It would be accurate to say we will be investigating this incident as well."

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