This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
A day or two more of digging, dousing and vigilance should do it for crews fighting southern Utah's 1,456-acre Hicks Creek Fire.
Fire Information Officer Jason Curry said the blaze, which was whipped up by winds Oct. 16 from a previous controlled burn on private land, was 80 percent contained as of Monday. Firefighters expected to reach 100 percent containment by early Wednesday morning.
Nearly 260 firefighters remained on the lines Monday, shoring up fire breaks and snuffing hot spots about 4 miles southeast of Cedar City.
Efforts Monday and again on Tuesday will focus on the fire's southern and eastern edges, where timber, brush and pinyon and juniper continued to smolder, and occasionally "torch" both within the perimeter and along the fire lines.
As full containment nears, fire managers will release some crews as well as helicopters and air tankers which have bombarded the flames with water and fire retardant chemicals.
As of Monday, Curry said, fighting the Hicks Creek Fire had cost an estimated $1.4 million.
Once the fire in fully contained, reseeding and other restoration work will be planned.
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