By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
Copyright 2006 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
Storms moved across Utah on Monday, sparking more wildfires and keeping firefighters scrambling into the Fourth of July holiday.
With lightning causing fires, firefighters pleaded with people to be careful with fireworks and other things that could ignite more fires.
Flames came very close to wreaking havoc in Eagle Mountain late Monday afternoon as a human-caused wildfire burned within 50 feet of some homes.
“It was just across the street from homes in The Ranches area of Eagle Mountain,” said Erin Darboven with the Bureau of Land Management’s Salt Lake City office.
An air tanker, helicopter and a dozen fire engines helped put out the 39-acre blaze. The exact cause of the fire was under investigation, Darboven said.
In Draper, about 20 acres, including part of a playground and baseball field, caught on fire. The Unified Fire Authority said fireworks may have started the blaze. Firefighters also suspected fireworks in a small fire that burned late Sunday night near the University of Utah Medical Center.
“There is always that concern when you have holidays that involve things that start fires,” said LaCee Bartholomew with the Color County Interagency Fire Center. “We’re just stressing that fireworks are banned on federal land, and there are numerous state restrictions as well.”
Officials were investigating a human-caused wildfire that had torched more than 200 acres of land near Kanab.
In Layton, lightning sparked a small fire up Adams Canyon near U.S. 89. Firefighters had to trudge up steep slopes to reach the blaze. A helicopter was brought in to help fight the fire.
“The terrain has been very difficult,” said Layton Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Eckardt. “It’s like a 50 percent slope and it’s sand, so the footing is difficult. Dragging tools up through sand is difficult as well.”
A 15,000-acre wildfire located about 55 miles west of Ogden was contained Monday. The Bureau of Land Management said lightning sparked the Scorpio Fire.
“We anticipate that any ignition that we do get could become a large wildfire if it is not caught at an early stage,” said Teresa Rigby, a fire mitigation specialist with the BLM in Salt Lake City. “We just need a little wind, maybe some slope, to help that fire spread and it doesn’t take much.”
In southern Utah, crews were making some progress on existing wildfires, but lightning strikes were sparking additional blazes.
“Thunderstorms have put down rain, which has helped, but they’ve also brought the lightning,” Bartholomew said.
The Bull Complex fires, which have torched more than 43,000 acres so far, received moisture from the storms. However, Bartholomew said, lightning sparked up some new fires in that area. So far, firefighters have managed to keep the fires away from the towns of Gunlock and Motoqua.