As rain-laden thunderstorms moved through the region, firefighters worked Tuesday to hem in a lightning-sparked wildfire that had burned more than 5,800 acres of grass and brush on the Great Salt Lake’s Stansbury Island.
Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Cami Lee said the fire was 25 percent contained Tuesday and full containment of the Shanty Canyon Fire, as it has been dubbed, was expected by nightfall Wednesday.
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The fire, which was first spotted at 3:25 p.m. Monday, was being battled by 22 firefighters on Tuesday. No injuries were reported and no structures had burned on the rugged, 11.5-mile long, 4.5-mile wide island.
The Shanty Canyon blaze was the largest of several wildfires ignited by lightning strikes so far this week, but none of the other fires were more than 10 acres, were remote and were either quickly contained or expected to soon be snuffed.
Crews hoped that fresh storms, these predicted to dump heavy rainfall in places, would help them extinguish the Shanty Canyon and other blazes.
Indeed, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for central and southern Utah through Tuesday evening.
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