SEVIER COUNTY, Utah, Oct. 2, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Five family members received burns to their faces and extremities, and three members were flown to a burn center after a trailer fire in Sevier County.
A 911 call came into the Richfield Communications Center at 6:45 a.m. Sunday, but the call was lost before a location or any information could be given, according to a news release from Sevier County Sheriff’s Office. Dispatchers tried to call the number back several times but were were unable to make contact.
At 6:57 a.m., a second 911 call came reporting a fire in a trailer near the Mytoge Mountain road, just south of Fishlake. All five members of a Clinton family, ranging in age from 7 to 40, had received burns to their faces and extremities. The severity of their injuries ranged from first- to third-degree burns.
Sevier County emergency medical technicians, deputies, and fire departments from Koosharem and Richfield were dispatched. A family member told dispatch they were in their truck, headed toward Richfield.
Emergency crews met the family along the highway and transported it to Sevier Valley Hospital. Three members of the family were treated and flown by helicopter to the University of Utah burn center. One family member was taken by ambulance to the University of Utah burn center and the other was released, but the released family member traveled in the ground ambulance in order to stay with the injured family member.
The Utah Fire Marshal’s Office responded to assist in determining the fire’s cause.
According to the father of the family, he had just struck the igniter on a propane heater when the enclosed cargo trailer erupted in flames, filling the small space. The explosion caught several items on fire and melted them. In addition, a seam in the roof was separated.
The rest of the trailer appeared to be undamaged.
Investigators found a coupling to the propane bottle hose that was leaking.
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information becomes available.
