Martin Romero/ Smoke from the West Valley Wildfire between Pine Valley and New Harmony is pictured on Wednesday, June 17, 2018.
Fire crews are working on four new wildfires within 24 hours.
In Southern Utah, fire officials say the West Valley fire in Washington County is active and moving to the north. This is a larger fire, already burned 2,000 acres is in the Pine Valley area and is zero percent contained right now.
There is a lot of dry timber, brush, and grass fueling the flames. At first, this fire was threatening 10 homes but that danger has passed for the time being.
People who live in the area say the terrain is rough, and firefighters will have better luck fighting from the air. They also aren’t surprised to see the smoke.
“As dry as it is this year, I didn’t want to see it. A little surprised at where it was — we haven’t had any lightning up high like that so it had to be a camper/hiker or somebody,” said Larry Gardner.
Then there’s the Dry Canyon Fire in Parowan, which has burned about 30 acres in the slot canyon areas in southern Utah. More than 80 firefighters are working to keep it from spreading.
About 8 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters reported that they were making some progress thanks to the cooling temperatures and reduced wind but didn’t know when the would have this blaze contained.
The Fruitland fire in Duchesne County destroyed 3 buildings on Wednesday, including two homes. Crews believe only one of the three buildings destroyed was occupied.
At the fire’s peak, about 40 firefighters were working to stop the spread of the fire. As of late Wednesday night crews had 75-percent containment on this fire. Windy conditions slowed their progress.
The Rough Fire is burning more than 12-hundred acres near Plymouth, in Box Elder County. Firefighters are working to contain the fire, said to be “human-caused.” The fire is visible from the intersection of I-15 Northbound and SR-30.
The Black Mountian Fire which begun earlier this afternoon near the small town of Minersville Utah, east of Beaver, has been threatening structures and has rapidly grown to affect more than 4,000 acres and closed Highway 130.
Forestry officials say they’re seeing fire activity in place that they usually don’t this time of year. Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands Spokesman Jason Curry says one thing caught them off-guard.
“We are a little surprised at how much fire activity there is, right now, in the higher elevations,” Curry says, adding, “The fire is moving through those types of fuels, right now, easily, and more extreme than it usually be in a June-type situation.”
Curry says they’re seeing dozens of new fires being sparked every week in the state, although most of them are contained before they get very large.
This story will continue to be updated.