Payson Roundup

Quick thinking by two brothers stopped a fire from spreading to homes and a school in Payson Wednesday morning.

Payson Fire Captain Toby Waugh puts the finishing touches on a fire discovered near Julia Randall Elementary School Wednesday morning. Two brothers going to work reported and extinguished the fire before it spread to nearby homes.

The brothers, Chris and Vince Beeler, are service technicians with Energy West and were on their way to a job when they saw flames in the alley east of Julia Randall Elementary School.

"I saw the fire burning and thought, ‘Where did that come from?'" Chris Beeler said.

Using the radio in their work truck, they called their office and had the dispatcher dial 911.

"We grabbed a fire extinguisher and a shovel from the truck and started putting out the flames." Chris said.

The Beeler brothers were concerned because the fire was burning near homes and a wooden fence.

"It was spreading quick in the dry weeds and it would have taken off," Chris said. "We just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

Payson Fire Marshal Mike Winters praised the brothers for their quick response.

"It was pretty much out when we got here, but as dry as it is, it could have gone right down the easement and back in behind those houses," Winters said. "Then we would have had some access issues to get into that area to fight the fire."

Winters said the cause of the fire is under investigation, but suspected the power lines might have malfunctioned. The fire started below a power pole and electricity was interrupted to a nearby home.

APS Payson District Manager Jan Parsons said the electrical equipment on the pole was checked immediately and was found to be in order.

"The transformer on a pole a couple stands down (400 feet) had blown a fuse resulting in the customer outage, but the equipment on the pole where the fire occurred seemed to be sound," Parsons said. "So the blown transformer could not have caused the fire."