The Kolob fire, about 7 miles northeast of Virgin, has charred 13,000 acres and was just 3 percent contained by noon, a fire official said.

The blaze, which ignited in a canyon five miles up Kolob Terrace Road, may threaten communities along State Road 9 and around Kolob Reservoir, said Color Country Fire Management spokeswoman Anne Stanworth.

The fire has consumed a horse arena and fences, a horse trailer, dog run and kennel, two generator buildings and a Ford dump-bed pickup truck, but no one has been injured, she said.

Murray Shoemaker, spokesman for the firefighting team, said multiple agencies are saturating the area with hand crews and air power to snuff out the inferno. With dry lightning in the forecast, firefighters do not expect to get the blaze under control today.

"A number of crews are up there and there's more arriving today and they're being put up and down that fire where they can get at it directly and in other places," he said.

Air tankers and helicopters are concentrating on areas where the terrain is steep and, therefore, too dangerous to place firefighters, Shoemaker said.

Heavy smoke and poor visibility prompted the temporary closure of S.R. 9. Kolob Terrace Road is open to fire traffic only.

Meanwhile, the Jarvis fire, about 10 miles southwest of St.

George, east of U.S. Highway 91, is threatening communication towers, high voltage power lines and critical desert habitat in Washington County, Stanworth said. The fire grew Sunday night, from 2,000 to 12,000 acres, and created heavy smoke that forced the closure of Old Highway 91.

About 70 people and one helicopter are fighting the fire, and a large fire management team has been called in and will take over later Monday, Stanworth said.

So far, fire officials are not speculating when the blaze, which started Sunday night and is only 5 percent contained, will be contained. Right now, no structures are threatened.

The cause of both fires is under investigation.