Crews made progress Monday closing fire lines around two blazes near Wasatch County’s Strawberry Reservoir.
Fire Information Officer Kathy Jo Pollock said that firefighters had gained the upper hand overnight as the flames died down.
“There‘s no smoke coming from those fires at all,” she said, though officially both blazes remained uncontained.
Pollock said two additional, 20-person crews had been ordered, along with three helicopters late Sunday night, but with conditions improved Monday those resources were cancelled.
The fires, believed human-caused, on Sunday brought evacuations of about two-dozen, mostly cabin residents in the Soldier Creek Estates development, as well as six hunters’ campsites. Those evacuations were lifted by Monday afternoon.
Crews also worked to keep the flames away from power lines.
No injuries or property losses were reported from the two main blazes, dubbed the Trout Creek and Soldier Creek fires. Together, the two fires had burned almost 450 acres — down markedly from the original estimate of 1,200 acres.
The Trout Creek Fire had been remapped at 303 acres and was 20 percent contained, while the Soldier Creek Fire was at about 145 acres and 40 percent contained.
Winds kicked the Trout Creek fire back up Monday on an east-facing slope, Pollock said, and a Black Hawk helicopter from the Utah Army National Guard and another helicopter dropped water on the flames.
On Tuesday, Pollock expects the containment at Soldier Creek to go up, despite moving half of the 20-person fire crew over to the Trout Creek area. At Trout Creek, there will be about 50 firefighters working to build fire lines, secure the fire’s edge and extinguish hot spots, with three helicopters dropping water from above.
Several other smaller fires were snuffed by crews along U.S. 40 on Sunday.
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