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CEDAR CITY — A semi-trailer carrying several expensive cars caught fire late Monday morning on I-15, causing delays and one lane of traffic to be closed down temporarily.
Cedar City Fire department Chief Paul Irons said that the fire started in the front half of the car carrier where an auxiliary battery was being stored. Normally the battery is used to jump-start vehicles that the carrier transports.
Irons said either the battery or a connection to it failed, causing the front half of the trailer and three vehicles to catch fire. A race car, a Mercedes and a BMW were each a total loss. Four cars in the rear of the carrier were unaffected.
Firefighters closed one northbound lane of I-15 for the safety of the firefighters while they worked to put out the blaze. Irons said that there was a special difficulty in getting access to confined areas in the vehicles to put the fire out.
He also said he was glad that the three vehicles were the only loss.
"We were lucky that this time of year we didn't get a large (wildfire) out of it," Irons said.
There were no injuries as a result of the fire.
