Burning RV Plunges Off Yuma Overpass, Lands in Backyard; Neighbors Demand Guardrail

Miguel Pulido heard nothing unusual before a burning motor home came off the overpass and slammed into the tree in his backyard near S. Calle Primavera, leaving scorch marks on his walls and a window shattered by heat pressure alone.

The crash happened around 5:30 p.m. Monday in the area of S. Pacific Avenue and S. Calle Primavera, near the Mirada Del Sol neighborhood. Rural Metro fire crews arrived to find the RV fully engulfed and dangerously close to the residence. A fire official at the scene was direct about the calculus: "When we got here, the motor home was fully involved, and so at that point, well, the motor home is a write-off, but we want to save the house. As you can tell, the house did have some damage, and that is the main thing we focus on — to keep the house safe."

Neighbors heard the impact before they understood what had happened. One resident described scrambling to alert her children: "I started screaming to my kids. Hey, something hit. I think a car fell. I had no idea. My son opened the door and we just saw a bunch of smoke and dust." Before Rural Metro crews could fully contain the blaze, those same neighbors rushed in to help beat back the flames.

Rural Metro initially reported the RV had been rear-ended on S. Pacific Avenue. The agency later clarified that account was wrong: the RV caught fire for unknown reasons and veered off the roadway on its own. What caused the fire remains undetermined.

The driver was not at the scene when firefighters arrived. Authorities spent hours checking area hospitals, reasoning that anyone inside a vehicle that burned that intensely stood a strong chance of having been injured. The driver was eventually located late that day; no injuries were reported among any parties.

Pulido, whose home bore the brunt of the aftermath, including melted containers and scorch marks in addition to the broken window, said the near-miss left him shaken but grateful. "Everything, you know... God and the universe has done for me in the past few hours, and it's just a big reminder that you have to keep having faith and you are here for a reason and I get to wake up another day," he said. In a separate comment, he added: "If it had spread a little closer, then it would have been scarier, but we're just lucky it didn't."

The Yuma County Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation. No charges have been filed and no cause has been officially established. The family told reporters they had worried about the overpass before the crash, a concern that has now taken on new urgency for the block along S. Calle Primavera where the RV came to rest.