This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
On the steep, rocky slopes below and in the smoky skies above, crews continued to hem in southwestern Utah's Saddle Wildfire on Friday.
While the month-old, lightning-caused blaze had burned 2,168 acres on Saddle Mountain, about 25 miles north of St. George, it remained largely restrained to the rugged, remote peak and its adjacent canyons.
Fire Information Office Megan Saylors said the fire, burning in conifer, brush, pinyon and juniper, had grown about 150 acres between Thursday night and dawn Friday. However, that growth primarily occurred as flames turned back upslope to consume previously missed swaths of tinder-dry fuels.
The fire officially remained 42 percent contained on Friday, but Saylors said an army of about 240 firefighters — joined by bulldozers in improving fire breaks on the ground, while air tankers and helicopters continued to lay down ribbons of fire retardant chemicals and water along the blaze's perimeter — still expected to have flames 100 percent contained by July 15.
The Pine Valley Recreation Area in the Dixie National Forest remained closed, and some 50 homeowners were still on notice to be prepared to evacuate should the fire shift and spread.
The area was placed under a "Red Flag" warning through Sunday as triple-digit temperatures, gusty weather, and lack of rain combined with extremely low humidity and dry vegetation to make wildfire dangers extreme.
Meanwhile, the Cove Fire — sparked by lightning Tuesday on the Old Woman Plateau — had burned 5 acres, about 11 miles southwest of Emery, as of Friday afternoon.
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