This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Crews steadily made progress with southern Utah's Brian Head Fire on Tuesday, confident they will complete containment lines around the 71,669 blaze by this weekend.
Meanwhile, Garfield and Iron county authorities lifted all remaining evacuation orders Tuesday evening. Evacuations ended for the cabin communities of Bear Valley, Horse Valley, Little Valley, Clear Creek, Little Creek Ranch, Red Creek and Second Left Hand Canyon.
About 670 firefighters were dousing hot spots and clearing debris along the edges of the Iron County blaze, supported from the air by water-bearing helicopters and air tankers with loads of fire retardant chemicals.
Incident Commander Troy DeMasters said the fire, named for the ski resort community near where a weed-burning project got out of control June 17, was 80 percent contained.
It continued to burn on its northern and northeastern flanks, where dense swaths of beetle-killed timber, old conifer and brush fueled the flames within the blaze's interior.
Thirteen homes were lost to the fire in its first few days, but no further structural losses have occurred since.
Firefighters were getting some aid from Mother Nature. Thunderstorms in the area have brought occasionally heavy rainfall. But that was a mixed blessing: the storms also bring winds, and the heavy rainfall risks flash flooding across now-denuded forest slopes.
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