By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
Copyright 2007 The Salt Lake Tribune
All Rights Reserved
ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah — Stiff winds on Wednesday afternoon forced firefighters off the front lines of a series of fires burning in Zion National Park that closed the back country to human activity. Meanwhile a new, nearby fire forced voluntary evacuations of cabins north of Virgin in the Kolob Terrace area.
The Dakota Hills Complex fire, as the fires in Zion have been named, consists of three fires burning in brush and ponderosa pines.
Park spokesman David Eaker said Wednesday afternoon that high winds forced helicopters to fly out about 30 firefighters battling two smaller fires that have charred more than 130 acres in a rugged region of the park.
Eaker said smoke-jumpers fighting the largest of the three fires, which has blackened more than 1,200 acres, pulled back to a safety zone Wednesday once the winds picked up.
The only way to access the fire is by air, Eaker said, and firefighters must be flown into the site or parachute.
Eaker said the winds, fanning the flames north and east, were expected as part of the red flag warning issued for southwestern Utah.
Park superintendent Jock Whitworth on Wednesday closed the park’s back country until further notice.
Eaker said beginning today, no permits would be issued for the back country or for canyoneering.
Visitors to the park can go to www.nps.gov/zion for more information on the closures.
A new management team from Arizona is expected to be in place today to take over fighting the fire that started with a lightning strike on Sunday and leapt to life on Monday.
The fires at Zion also are being doused from the air by a heavy-lift helicopter and single-engine air tankers.
A new fire near the town of Virgin, called the Smith Mesa fire, started Wednesday afternoon and initially officials decided on a mandatory evacuation of several hundred cabin owners near Kolob Reservoir, but quickly changed the order to a voluntary evacuation after firefighters decided they could get a handle on the fire.
Dean Cox, emergency services director for Washington County, said officials feared at first the Smith Mesa fire could join the fires in Zion.
Cox said Wednesday night that most property owners decided against evacuating, but Red Cross officials were notified that anyone needing shelter could go to the LDS church in Virgin. Other fires in southern Utah were being contained or controlled, said LaCee Bartholomew, a spokeswoman for the Cedar City Interagency Fire Center.
A new fire on the Arizona Strip in Arizona, started Wednesday and has burned at least 10 acres sending up smoke south of St. George.
In northern Utah, crews were getting the upper hand on two fires northeast of Grouse Creek in northwestern Box Elder County.
Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Teresa Rigby said the Beke fire, started by lightning July 16, has burned more than 1,000 acres and is about 80 percent contained.
She said thunder cells that passed over the region on Tuesday breathed new life into the fire, which grew about 300 acres, but fire crews responded and stopped the advance with the help of rain that also was brought by the storms.
The fire is being fought by about 20 firefighters, a single-engine air tanker and several fire engines.
The Pine Creek fire, started by lightning Sunday, is about 95 percent contained after burning 140 acres, said Rigby.
It is being fought with about 20 firefighters and a single fire engine.