This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Firefighters watched southwestern Utah's skies with a mix of hope and trepidation Wednesday as thunderstorms rolled in over the 1,540-acre Saddle Fire.
Fire Information Officer Tim Johnson said the same storm system brought heavy rain to Arizona earlier this week. He and 710 others battling the blaze, some 25 miles north of St. George, crossed their fingers for a sort of karmic reversal: the fire on Saddle Mountain was sparked by lightning on June 13.
"If we're going to get any rain out of this system, we've been told it will likely be today," Johnson said. "We sure don't need any more dry lightning."
However, the National Weather Service — putting much of the state, including southwestern Utah, under a Red Flag wildfire danger warning — said the storms generally were not expected to produce much rain.
Conditions in the Dixie National Forest's Pine Valley area, which includes Saddle Mountain, are extremely dry. Flames have found parched conifers, pinyon, juniper, oak brush and grass easy prey, and accumulated undergrowth has served as additional, plentiful tinder on Saddle Mountain and adjacent parcels.
The remote, rocky, steep and inaccessible terrain has left ground crews focused on widening existing fire breaks and creating new ones downslope to protect hundreds of vacation homes. Meanwhile, a fleet of fire retardant- and water-bearing air tankers and helicopters have bombarded interior hot spots and the perimeters of the blaze.
As of Wednesday night, the fire was 21 percent contained, which fire spokesman Mike Ferris called "good progress." No homes had been lost, though flames approached within a mile of some last week.
"We continue to establish permanent containment lines up above Lloyd Canyon, where there are a lot of homes. We haven't lost any structures so far, and we don't expect to," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, area property owners are responding well to firefighters' offers to clear away vegetation around their holdings to create fuel-less barriers, should flames jump the lines and once more move toward homes.
Crews also are working on "contingency, worst-case scenario" containment lines further back from existing fire lines. "That's a precautionary measure," Johnson said, noting the lines could serve as secondary lines of defense if the Saddle Wildfire breaks loose — and as ready barriers to any future fires in the area.
Johnson noted that while owners of some 500 homes remained prepared for a short-notice evacuation if conditions took a dramatic turn for the worse, other restrictions remained firmly in place. Drones and other private aircraft are banned from the skies over the Saddle Wildfire, and the Pine Valley Recreation Area and its trails and campgrounds are closed.
With the Fourth of July weekend ahead, Johnson also stressed that fireworks are strictly forbidden on all National Forest lands.
Twitter: @remims