Utah evacuees fled approaching flames as extreme heat fuels wildfires in U.S. West
SALT LAKE CITY — A wildfire menacing a southern Utah ski town for nearly a week flared again, doubling in size for the second night in a row and torching more homes after residents fled the flames, officials said Friday.
The blaze was one of several burning in the U.S. West as extreme heat challenges firefighters.
The Utah fire that has charred 112 square kilometres near the town of Brian Head has destroyed a total of 13 homes, Forest Service spokeswoman Cigi Burton said.
No one was injured because the houses were among 400 evacuated a day earlier from the alpine community that is home to the Brian Head Resort and near several national monuments and parks in Utah’s red rock country.
Mountain bike and hiking trails, zip line courses and a water tubing hill that lure visitors to the resort in the summer were closed as firefighters try to hem in the flames.
At least 700 people have been out of their homes since last Saturday, when the blaze was ignited by someone using a torch to burn weeds, authorities said.
High winds and hot weather have intensified the fire.
Brian Head and eight other communities and campgrounds were under evacuation orders, fire spokeswoman Erin Darboven said.
LaRue Billings, who spends summers with her husband in their recreational vehicle at nearby Panguitch Lake, said beetles have killed off trees in the surrounding forest, leaving lots of dried wood on the ground. “I’m sure that had a lot to do with fuelling the fire.”
The unidentified person accused of starting the blaze could face charges, officials said.
In Arizona, astronomers fear a nearly 74-square-kilometre wildfire might have caused heat damage to a research telescope on a mountain northeast of Tucson. Paul Gabor, vice-director of the Vatican Observatory, says the blaze likely came within 10 metres of the building.
Fire conditions are preventing telescope operators from examining the inside of the building.
In Southern California, firefighters made progress on a fiveday-old forest fire in the San Bernardino Mountains that has burned about 625 hectares.