This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Crews worked Saturday to close containment lines around one major wildfire that blackened Utah's parched high desert as another sparked Saturday evening.
A fire in Wiley Canyon, on the west side of Lake Mountain, started at about 4:15 p.m. Saturday and had burned about 300 acres by 8:30 p.m. Initial reports indicate that the fire was human-caused. Flames were reported to be 10 feet high and running north to south in the area.
Before the Wiley fire started, crews gained containment Saturday on the 1,572-acre Ophir Creek Fire. Cami Lee, spokeswoman with the Bureau of Land Management, said the fire — believed human-caused, but still under investigation — was 100 percent contained as of noon Saturday. Firefighters had been close to containing the blaze late Friday night, but shifting winds forced them to retreat.
"We have more resources on the ground and in the air, and they are now hoping to have this fire fully contained [by midafternoon]," she said.
The Ophir Creek blaze began about 5 p.m. off Highway 73 in western Utah's Tooele County and at one point approached the Deseret Chemical Depot before being turned away from the chemical weapons destruction facility. Gusty winds had pushed the flames over tinder-dry sage and grasslands before crews were able to slow its growth and begin to gain the upper hand late Friday night.
Meanwhile, crews had contained the 320-acre Little Cove Fire, which broke out Friday afternoon west of Utah Lake and six miles south of Saratoga Springs. The fire temporarily forced closure of a 10-mile stretch of State Road 68, but the route was open again on Saturday.
Jason Curry of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands said five shooters were cited by the Utah County Sheriff's Office for starting the fire by using prohibited exploding targets in the area.
Along State Road 84, east of Snowville, volunteer firefighters reportedly tamed a 350-acre grass fire Friday night. The blaze was believed to have been sparked by a vehicle tire blowout.
Continuing high temperatures that have left the high deserts, rangelands and forests bone dry resulted in three-quarters of Utah being placed under a "Red Flag" warning. The warning area stretched from Wendover on the Nevada border, the northwestern Utah state line with Idaho and running south to the St. George area and then east to encompass most of southern and eastern Utah.
Open fires — except for campgrounds and in approved picnic and other areas — were banned statewide on all public lands, along with fireworks, through Monday.