Couple cited for escaped campfire that started Gun Range Fire in Utah

Map Gun Range Fire
Map showing the approximate location of the Gun Range Fire using heat data from a satellite at 4:24 a.m. MDT August 30, 2019. The red line is the estimated perimeter.

A Utah couple has been cited by the U.S. Forest Service for having a campfire that escaped and started what became the 365-acre Gun Range Fire near Bountiful, Utah on August 30, 2019. The fire was named after the nearby Lions Club gun range.

KSL is reporting that the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed that Ashlyn Nelson and Jeremy Flores were issued a ticket for leaving a campfire without fully extinguishing it. Campfires, per se, were not illegal, but allowing it to escape and ignite a wildfire, of course, is.

The fire forced the evacuation of 400 homes and was fought by multiple hotshot crews, air tankers, and helicopters in addition to a large number of local firefighting resources.

Other fires that have occurred recently in the greater Salt Lake City area since July 17, 2019:

fires salt lake city area utah
The map shows the locations of some of the wildfires that occurred in the greater Salt Lake City area between July 17 and September 16, 2019.

Evacuations lifted at Gun Range Fire

The fire burned 365 acres at Bountiful and Centerville, Utah August 30

Gun Range Fire
The Gun Range Fire started August 30, 2019 in a wildland-urban interface. Photo provided by Utah Fire Info.

The last of the evacuation orders were lifted Saturday morning by the Bountiful Police Department for the areas near the Gun Range Fire that burned 365 acres near Bountiful and Centerville, Utah Friday.

Officials with the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest said the fire started from an abandoned campfire believed to have originated above the Lions Gun Range in Bountiful. Authorities are searching for two individuals in a small SUV.

The photo above shows that the fire, which destroyed three homes, occurred in a wildland-urban interface. It appears that firefighters succeeded in keeping that number lower than it could have been.


More information about the Gun Range Fire at Bountiful.

Fire at Bountiful Utah forces hundreds to evacuate

The Gun Range Fire was reported at about 1 a.m. on Friday

Gun Range Fire
Gun Range Fire. Photo by Davis County Sheriff Search and Rescue.

(Originally published at 11:59 a.m. MDT August 30, 2019)

A fire that started after midnight Friday east of Bountiful and Centerville, Utah forced the evacuation of 400 homes. The blaze was named Gun Range Fire because it is near the Lions Gun Range in Bountiful. Most wildfires are named after the location where they started.

Map Gun Range Fire
Map of the Gun Range Fire based on heat data from a satellite at 4:24 a.m. MDT August 30, 2019. The red line is the approximate perimeter.

By 10 a.m. evacuations in Centerville had been lifted but the order in Bountiful was still in effect. Fire officials estimated the fire had burned 150 to 300 acres, destroyed three homes, and damaged five others. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

NWS Gun Range Fire

Kim Osborn, the public information officer for the Northern Utah Interagency Fire Center said several hotshot crews, air tankers, and helicopters are on the scene.

Other fires that have occurred recently in that general part of Utah include the 6,451-acre Goose Point Fire, the 7,900-acre Shelter Pass Fire, the 450-acre Alaska Fire, and the 167-acre Round Peak Fire  — all since July 17, 2019.