Cedar City, UT- CEDAR CITY, Mark Havnes – The early-morning fire that destroyed a Main Street motel Tuesday caused about $700,000 in damage to the structure, investigators said Wednesday.
The burned section of the L-shaped building was demolished as firefighters searched for hot spots. A steady arc of water from a set nozzle poured down on the charred rubble of the Zion Inn Motel as workers erected a fence around the site.
No one was hurt in the fire, which was reported at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday and kept firefighters at the scene until Wednesday morning.
Deputy State Fire Marshal Todd Hohbein said the official cause of the fire is undetermined, but that a natural-gas leak is suspected.”We cannot be 100 percent sure because we couldn’t dig out the basement,” said Hohbein.
It is believed the fire started in the basement after an explosion.