A car fire along northbound Interstate 15 in northwest Arizona shut part of the highway Monday evening and destroyed a passenger vehicle, authorities said.
Emergency crews were dispatched shortly after 6:30 p.m. MDT to northbound I-15 near mile marker 21, just north of the Cedar Pocket exit, following reports of a vehicle fire.
When firefighters arrived, they found a Hyundai Sonata fully engulfed in flames, with the fire spreading to nearby vegetation. Beaver Dam-Littlefield Battalion Chief Andre Ojeda stated that the potential for the blaze to spread quickly in triple-digit temperatures prompted an immediate request for assistance from the Color Country Interagency Fire Center.
The driver and passenger were traveling north when the wife noticed smoke coming from the car. The driver attempted to slow down after seeing smoke in the rearview mirror but experienced difficulty braking. Ojeda noted he was unsure if the difficulty was due to the fire, the heat melting the brake lines, or another issue.
Both occupants were able to safely exit the vehicle and remove personal belongings before the car was fully engulfed. Firefighters eventually worked to extinguish the blaze and surrounding hotspots with assistance from the St. George Fire Department and Bureau of Land Management crews.
The right northbound lane was temporarily closed to allow crews to respond and remove the damaged vehicle.
No injuries were reported in the incident. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, and the Beaver Dam-Littlefield Fire and Rescue.
Ojeda warned that extreme heat conditions can allow even small embers to ignite fast-moving fires.
