Some 140 firefighters from multiple agencies and U.S. Forest Service crews were working Friday to contain a fire first reported Thursday in the Uinta Mountains.
Firefighters from multiple agencies and forest service crews are working to contain a new fire first reported in the Uinta Mountains on Thursday, Aug. 7.
Some 140 firefighters from multiple agencies and U.S. Forest Service crews were working Friday to contain a fire first reported Thursday in the Uinta Mountains.
The U.S. Forest Service said the Beulah Fire was burning in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest between Mount Beulah and Lamotte Peak, a few miles from the Manor Lands east of the Mirror Lake Highway.
In a Friday afternoon update on the forest’s Facebook page, the forest service said the fire had grown to 1,400 acres.
Along with the personnel, it said several aircraft are working to suppress the flames.
Firefighters, incident management team spokesperson Toby Weed said, are contending with high winds, red-flag weather conditions, low relative humidity and “very, very dry fuel conditions,” causing the fire to act erratic and extreme.
In its afternoon update, the forest service said accessing the fire has also proved challenging.
KPCW reported that a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter was called in to help with evacuations east of the Christmas Meadows area.
Monica Traphagan, a senior meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Salt Lake City office, said while wind gusts in the area exceeded 40 mph on Thursday, they’ve started slowing today and are anticipated to continue to do so through the weekend.
Winds are largely pushing from the west, she added, meaning the smoke from the Beulah fire is headed toward Colorado.
The U.S. Forest Service also announced that much of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is under stage 1 fire restrictions through Oct. 9, prohibiting most fires in the forest unless they are in concrete or metal pits or grates, with few exceptions.
According to Weed, crews were working Friday morningto protect nearby structures, primarily focusing on the Hinckley Scout Ranch.
“Even that one’s not really threatened yet. It may become threatened in the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said Friday.
KPCW reported that the forest service said smoke jumpers, firefighters who parachute into remote areas affected by fire, were called out but were not able to jump Thursday because of high winds.
Wyoming’s Uinta County fire and ambulance service said crews had not been able to access the fire on the ground because of its location.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.
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