Font Resize
Heavy winds whipped at Steve Davis' face as he watched spot fires from the 22,400-acre Big Pole blaze jump from the Iosepa area into Timpie Valley on the northeast side of the Stansbury Mountains.
The Unified Fire Authority firefighter was helping Thursday to fight the largest wildfire so far this season, a little more than 20 miles west of Tooele.
"With the wind like this and the light fuel, it will run," he said.
About 200 fire personnel from the Bureau of Land Management, the Uintah Forest Service and Tooele County and city volunteers were at the scene of the blaze, along with 15 engines, said Brenyn Lohmoelder, spokeswoman for the BLM's Salt Lake City field office.
Several crews from Idaho arrived
Crews on the fire line battled heavy winds and low visibility for much of the afternoon. Those weather conditions also prevented any help from planes and helicopters, Lohmoelder said. The ground crews are trying to keep the flames from other ranches in the area, but will need reinforcements before they can try to contain the wildfire.
"We were doing some structure protection. We burned around a house [to protect it]," Davis said.
But the west desert fire, fed by 30 to 40 mph winds, burned through one ranch and was threatening others in the area. It is unclear if any structures in the area were destroyed, Lohmoelder said.
Voluntary evacuations are in effect for residents of five or six ranches in the area.
The Big Pole fire, burning mostly on BLM and private land, is believed to have been ignited by lightning from a Wednesday evening thunder storm. The winds pushed it north, from the foothills northeast of the Skull Valley reservation, toward Interstate 80, before later turning the fire southeast. It is burning through sagebrush and cheat grass, and, with 30 to 40 mph gusts, it was moving at 50
| Photo Gallery
|
There have been no injuries reported, she added.
When it was discovered at 7 a.m. Thursday, the Big Pole fire had consumed a mere 10 acres near the southern tip of the Stansbury Mountains. Fire officials now say it could take days to control the blaze. Smoke from the fire enveloped the Salt Lake Valley.
There are 24 fires in the state right now; seven of those, including the Big Pole, are in the BLM's west desert district, Lohmoelder said.
Among those fires are:
» A 150-acre fire in Settlement Canyon, south of Tooele.
» The White Rocks fire at Dugway Proving Ground.
According to the National Weather Service, there is a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms in the west desert area today. Lohmoelder said it should be cooler today.
"We hope there's no wind," she said.
Meanwhile, thunderstorms and high winds caused a flurry of fires throughout the Salt Lake Valley, keeping firefighters scrambling to put out one blaze after another.
Lightning from passing thunderstorms sparked a brush fire in Bountiful, though it was contained. The 6-acre brush fire on U.S. Forest Service land in the north part of Bountiful was contained by 12:30 p.m., about six hours after it was reported. It was located above the Viewmont High School's "V" sign, said Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Jo Pollock.
Tribune reporter Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.
