This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A lightning-caused fire continued to burn Tuesday in the Arizona Strip, about 55 miles southeast of St. George, Utah, having scorched more than 820 acres of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument lands.
Mark Rosenthal, a fire management officer with the Bureau of Land Management, said the blaze, dubbed the High Meadow Fire, was sparked during a thunderstorm on July 14.
BLM firefighters have adopted a strategy of letting the fire burn, except in cases where it could threaten private property.
"[BLM is allowing] the fire to reduce downed fuel accumulation and thin the overstocked ponderosa pine stands," he explained on Tuesday.
Nonetheless, the wildfire has poured smoke into the skies along the Utah-Arizona border, and BLM officials have closed traffic on agency roads 1768, 1775, 1802, and 1803 to all but emergency vehicles. Mohave County Ariz.) Road 5 remains open.
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