PHOTO: Just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, a motor home fire near the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park turnoff closed Highway 87 for about an hour while firefighters worked to snuff the flames and keep it from running into the forest.
Bob Shook was driving his 1999 American Eagle north on 87 with his two dogs. His wife Beverly followed in their pickup truck. The couple was headed to the Happy Jack Lodge to set up their motor home for the summer.
“All of the sudden there was this big cloud of white smoke, I couldn’t see,” said Beverly. She put on her flashers and pulled over at the south end of Buckhead Mesa, where the highway turns into four lanes, thinking her husband would do the same.
“I tried to call him but I couldn’t,” she said visibly shaken as she watched the motor home burn Tuesday.
Bob stopped after the engine quit, initially unaware the RV was on fire. “I smelled gear oil,” he said.