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Crews fighting the fire that burned 13 residences and threatened the resort destinations of Brian Head and Panguitch Lake have the fire 65 percent contained as it continues to scar southern Utah.

High winds and temperatures fanned the flames into one of the country's largest active wildfires, at 60,301 acres Saturday morning. The fire's northern and eastern edges continue to burn ahead of fire crews.

The threat to homes in Brian Head subsided enough this week that officials allowed residents to return to their homes after nearly two weeks of evacuation.

Utah Rep. Chris Stewart toured the fire damage by helicopter Saturday, describing the sight as "interesting, heartbreaking and frightening." At an afternoon news conference, Stewart said federal policy in the past few decades "made this fire worse and made fighting this fire more dangerous for our firefighters."

The Republican advocated for legislation that focuses on upkeep of federal forests, which he hopes will be approved by the House and Senate this summer.

Other southern Utah politicians have criticized environmentalist groups in recent weeks for allegedly thwarting efforts to log trees killed by a bark beetle infestation. The targeted groups, however, contend that climate change and excluding fire from the landscape are the true reasons the national forest was primed for the blaze, which started June 17 when a man was burning weeds.

Firefighters were expecting continued dry and hot conditions and high winds from the southwest that are ripe for fire growth on the blaze's uncontained northern boundary, but the vegetation the crews are working in on that side may be easier to manage and stem the fire's growth, officials said.

"We have a couple water reservoirs up there [and] those are definitely high priority areas," U.S. Forest Service spokesman Andrew Jackson said Saturday. "There's more sage and meadowed outlands and ponderosa. Some of those areas are easier to contain a fire."

Portions of Highway 143 remained closed west of Panguitch due to hot spots but were scheduled to open at noon Sunday. The highway between Brian Head and Parowan reopened Saturday afternoon, though motorists were cautioned to beware of fire and utility crews working in the area.

The fire line near Brian Head looks "really, really good," Jackson said.

Business owners and residents, relieved from the fire's containment, shifted Friday to wondering how the blaze would affect the typical rush of visitors on the extended July Fourth holiday weekend. Panguitch Lake remains closed to recreational users.

Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson

— Reporter Mariah Noble contributed to this story.