Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
Copyright 2006 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah — Two wildfires, one that started Saturday night and one that began Sunday morning, were burning out of control in southern Utah on Sunday — but no homes or other major structures were in danger.
The Jarvis fire, which began at 5:02 a.m. Sunday, was threatening communication towers, high-voltage power lines and critical desert habitat in Washington County, said Anne Stanworth of the Color Country Interagency Fire Center.
The Jarvis fire had burned about 2,500 acres about 10 miles southwest of St. George. The cause of the fire was under investigation and officials had no projection as to when the fire would be contained.
The Kolob Fire began at 8:47 p.m. Saturday about seven miles northeast of the town of Virgin. It was still actively burning on the southwest, north and northeast portions of the fire late Sunday, Stanworth said.
The fire had moved up onto Smith Mesa and split in two directions, on both sides of Kolob Terrace Road. It burned four storage structures overnight and several people were evacuated in the early hours of the fire, but no homes were damaged, Stanworth said.
The Kolob fire was burning on 1,200 acres of private, Bureau of Land Management and National Parks property, she said. It had forced the closure of all trails accessible to the Zion backcountry along the Kolob Terrace Road, including Connector Trail, Hop Valley Trail, Wildcat Canyon Trail, Left Fork (Subway) and Right Fork of the Virgin Dalton Wash Trail.