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Residents of southwestern Utah's scenic Pine Valley were asked Friday to evacuate their homes voluntarily, or be ready to leave them on short notice, as crews fought to turn back flames that crested Saddle Mountain's eastern ridge overnight.
The Saddle Fire, whipped by hot, dry winds through tinder-dry timber, brush and grass beginning late Thursday that continued through the night, was at 1,193 acres and 5 percent contained by Friday night. The 12-day-old, lightning-sparked blaze remained difficult to control, the task of halting its advance toward hundreds of mostly seasonal homes primarily on the shoulders of air tanker and helicopter pilots.
Tons of fire retardant chemicals and torrents of water have bombarded the blaze this week. On the ground, limited thus far by the rugged, steep and rocky nature of Saddle Mountain, crews scrambled to widen natural fire breaks and to hand-dig or bulldoze new ones along the lower, more accessible slopes fronting the flaring flames.
On Friday, said Fire Information Officer Christian Venhuizen, firefighters were using "masticators," heavy equipment that grinds up trees and brush, to improve fire breaks surrounding Pine Valley. Nearby communities such as Central and Veyo also were being assessed for possible fire-prevention measures, should the blaze jump lines.
Fire spokeswoman Julie Thomas said 530 personnel were on the fire lines on Friday, after the blaze crept overnight within a mile of some of the 500 homes identified as under threat by an earlier Washington County State of Emergency declaration.
"The fire remains most active in the Lloyd and Forsyth canyons, burning mostly in the downed logs and underbrush in the conifer stands," Venhuizen said, adding that crews anticipate the blaze will continue to grow along the ridgelines both east and north of the canyons through the weekend.
"Spotting from burning embers through the air and downhill rolling of burning material on the steep slopes will contribute to fire spread," though the region's lower slopes remained green enough to slow any further spreading toward more populated areas.
Crews had hoped they were at a turning point at mid-day Thursday, as heavy layers of fire retardant dumped in advance of the fire appeared to have halted its advance. Then, as nightfall approached, the flames leaped to the top of Forsyth Canyon, gained the crest and continued to spread outside of the unpopulated Pine Valley Mountain wilderness.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office, which had earlier Thursday lifted a two-day, precautionary evacuation of 100 homes in Lloyd Canon and western Pine Valley, was telling residents Friday to be ready to leave again on short notice, said spokeswoman Shauna Jones.
No structures had been lost to the fire, though flames have approached within half a mile of some. Whether that will remain the case was quite literally up in the air, with a fleet of air tankers and helicopters striking back hard along the perimeter of the still out-of-control blaze.
Extremely dry conditions, along with triple-digit temperatures expected to rule well into the weekend, brought restrictions on outdoor fires — including smoking, fireworks, campfires outside of designated pits, and use of motorized vehicles without spark-arresting gear — for all of Washington County, as well as areas west of Interstate 15 in nearby Iron and Beaver counties.
Twitter: @remims