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Crews battle difficult blaze in Tooele County

By https://author-service-images-prod-us-east-1.publishing.aws.arc.pub/sltrib/9b3c922a-89b6-44d4-95bb-4cb21e1fff64.jpg Paighten Harkins  and https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/sltrib/80a1f33c-6786-4297-8540-865f170ba0e5.png Scott D. Pierce
 | July 27, 2018, 8:04 a.m.
| Updated: 8:58 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A helicopter makes drops on a wildfire east of Tooele. Friday July 27, 2018.

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After some evacuations were lifted, the Middle Canyon fire in Tooele County continued to burn Friday night, and crews anticipate a tough battle to get the blaze under control over the weekend.

Air and ground crews gained on the fire Friday, though it was highly resistant as it burned through grass, oak brush, juniper and timber in the steep and rugged terrain. Crews will use dozers and air attacks Saturday to slow the fire until more ground crews arrive, according to a news release from fire officials.

Firefighters' goal on Saturday will be to protect Tooele’s municipal watershed, stop the spread of the fire into the Tooele Valley and to identify “trigger points” for evacuations in the nearby Butterfield Canyon.

When crews from the North Tooele Fire District arrived at the scene shortly after 9 p.m. on Thursday, the blaze was only 2 to 3 acres, but it quickly spread; overnight, the fire burned more than 80 acres. It grew to 200 acres by Friday night, according to the news release, and it was 5 percent contained.

Roads into both canyons were closed Friday because of the fire.

The North Tooele Fire District posted on Facebook early Friday morning that the fire didn’t pose an imminent threat to homes in the area, but that some residents were evacuated Thursday as a precaution. Residents on Grimm Hill Road were allowed to return to their homes shortly after 3 a.m. Friday.

As of Friday night, officials hadn’t issued additional evacuation orders. There have been no reports of injuries.

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