Posted on 07/01/2002 3:19:26 AM PDT by KuernoDeChivo
Wildfire erupts in Provo foothills CALEB WARNOCK The Daily Herald on Monday, July 01
PROVO -- Nightfall over Utah Valley revealed a forest of glowing embers on the mountainside above the south end of Provo on Sunday, as Utah County's first major wildfire consumed more than 350 acres with no end in sight, said Mike Bledsoe, Provo area fire chief.
"We received a call at approximately 7:20 this evening and we had a report of a fire off State Street (along the old Springville Highway)," he said. The blaze began within Provo city limits in the foothills just above State Street, Bledsoe said.
"We received a call at approximately 7:20 this evening and we had a report of a fire off State Street (along the old Springville Highway)," he said. The blaze began within Provo city limits in the foothills just above State Street, Bledsoe said.
"We responded with three stations and tried to flank the north and south sides as best we could to keep it from extending. There was nothing we could do about the eastward extension of the fire."
Provo Fire Marshal Jim Guynn, who is in charge of investigating the fire, said the blaze was not likely to be fireworks related.
"It's still under investigation," he said. "We're interviewing witnesses and we're following leads and that's all I can tell you right now."
Bledsoe said crews did find a downed power line near the area where the blaze was believed to have ignited, "but we believe at this point that that was probably secondary," he said.
Chuck Wentlender, fire management officer for the Uinta National Forest, said approximately 25 Forest Service firefighters were on the mountain fighting the blaze at dusk Sunday, "but we will pull them off for their safety," he said.
"We are going to pull everyone off tonight so that we don't get any rolling debris down on people," he said.
"Whenever we get a fire that rolls through an area like this, the oak brush holds a lot of rocks in place and when the oak brush gets burned it gives the rocks a chance to take off," Wentlender said, adding no one had been injured.
"The fire is pretty much doing its own thing and we are going to watch it for a while, until in the morning at least," he said.
"We've put an order in for six (20-person firefighter) crews, four helicopters and two air tankers as our response for (this) morning, but the availability of them is really sketchy right now (because of other fires around the state)."
No water drops were made on the fire Sunday because of limited personnel, Wentlender said. The fire was so new it had yet to be named.
"We don't have a name on it, and the canyon has no name," he said. "We've been trying to figure out (what to call the fire)."
Caleb Warnock can be reached at 344-2543 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com.
i wondered where the smoke was coming from... i could smell it coming through the cooler very early this morning
and the fire is about 50 miles south of here.
that's going to be a tough one to contain considering the terrain to the east of provo.
Our fire-fighters, our law-enforcement people will not ever get any time off.
How can we celebrate holidays with a lot of brave Americans never being able to celebrate with us ?
I pray they are caught. When Usama bragged that our symbols would burn, we (understandibly) thought he was referring to the WTC and Pentagon and potential similar targets. ...Now I wonder.
"We received a call at approximately 7:20 this evening and we had a report of a fire off State Street (along the old Springville Highway)," he said. The blaze began within Provo city limits in the foothills just above State Street, Bledsoe said.
I checked the source, and indeed, it is there twice, too.
I checked the source, and indeed, it is there twice, too.
It made for one of the most magnificent mushroom clouds at sunset, stunning riser of red smoke in the red light.
A backburn has contained the north and south sides, and it will burn into the area burned off last year to the east.
The fire started at 4000 feet elevation, is burning atop the 8000' foot hills, but probably won't get to the 10,000' foot mountains right behind it. These are all within 3 miles of Provo.
Cheers.
The Springville fire looks to be almost contained. We watched the helicopters dump water on the fire this morning, but didn't notice anything going on at lunch. No visible smoke from the valley...
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