UPDATE 1:44 p.m. MDT: Local TV station KSL is reporting that three homes have been “severely damaged” by the Taylor Mountain Road fire. Read more here.
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The Taylor Mountain Road Fire in northeastern Utah continues to burn Monday morning, and has destroyed one family’s home, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The fire started on July 5 and grew rapidly, prompting evacuations north of the town of Vernal, near Steinaker State Park. As of Monday morning, the fire had burned 3,167 acres and was at 25 percent containment.
Someone suggested yesterday on Reddit that people post stories of UFO sightings. “Echatoner” was one of many who responded:
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“I was on a wildfire just south of Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah. We were in fire rigs driving to the incident area, four trucks in close convoy, when we heard helicopters. Eight black military choppers escorted us in formation for like ten miles, we assumed they were just doing drills and using us for fake target practice or something.
A little while later we are parked and about to start hiking to the fire line when suddenly a thin column of smoke shoots probably about two hundred feet into the sky, it was a good mile away but the concussion was pretty significant when it hit us and the noise was still ridiculously loud. We thought it was probably no big deal, we knew we were near a strike zone.
A good five minutes later an aircraft like nothing I have ever seen flew by us at maybe five hundred feet. It was flat black and sort of rectangular but with fins and wells on the underside. It was moving pretty slow and was dead silent so I have to assume it was some sort of stealth glider. It sounds ridiculous but it immediately reminded me of a huge, flying bat mobile, Time Burton era.
After that some military personnel got on our radio frequency and instructed us to leave the area immediately, when our crew chief asked who it was and why they signed off and the Incident Commander (the guy in charge of managing the entire situation) came on the radios and said we were evacuating the area. They sent us to a completely different fire about a hundred miles to the south and never told us why except that it was higher priority which was bullshit, it was already out when we got there and we just assisted crews in the mop up operation.
The thing that confuses me about this is that if the army didn’t want us to see that shit or if it was dangerous why didn’t they keep us clear of the area in the first place? Either a communications breakdown or they had a now shit situation going down and had to get us out of there without warning.
Edit: this is the closest thing anybody has suggested.”
Later he wrote:
“I was a rookie on my second fire so I have to consider that my crew may have been f***ing with me as far as why we had to leave, it was the kind of thing they’d do.”
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Anyone else seen anything unusual that they can’t explain on a fire?
The Eastern Great Basin and Western Great Basin Coordination Centers will merge and be located in a new facility in Salt Lake City. The federal agencies involved say the consolidation will save money and improve response time in getting resources to wildfires and other incidents. The centers, currently located in Salt Lake City and Reno, are responsible for mobilizing resources for wildland fire, prescribed fire and other all-hazard incidents primarily in Nevada, Utah and southern Idaho, plus small portions of California, Wyoming and Arizona.
The decision to consolidate was made after a study by the participating agencies that examined criteria including the safety of the public and firefighters; providing services at the same or higher level than the two existing organizations; proximity to other offices and an airport; minimal disruption to employees; technological capabilities; and overall efficiency. The consolidation will save about $305,000 a year after one-time moving expenses and will affect up to five employees in Reno, all of whom will be offered positions at the new center.
The coordination centers are two of eleven such organizations throughout the country. The centers also provide intelligence and meteorological products to wildfire personnel. Participating agencies include the states of Nevada, Utah and Idaho; BLM; the Forest Service; Bureau of Indian Affairs; National Park Service; and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Five options were considered, ranging from status quo to consolidating facilities in Salt Lake City, Reno or Boise.
The target start-up date for the new Great Basin Geographic Area Coordination Center is April 2014.
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Our thoughts
I always thought it was strange that the Great Basin was divided into basically two Geographic Area Coordination Centers — and, that California is broken up into two as well. How long do you think it will before California’s North Zone and South Zone merge?
Map of Patch Springs Fire at 2:26 p.m. MDT August 16, 2013
Fire managers on the Patch Springs fire southwest of Salt Lake City were notified this morning they would be receiving aircraft no longer needed on the Rockport Fire north of Park City, Utah.
The BLM reported that the Tooele County Sheriff’s department evacuated the town of Terra and the BLM Clover Springs Campground on Highway 199 Friday afternoon. The fire is now on the south side of the highway.
The latest acreage number provided by the BLM is 14,000 acres. An order has been placed for Dunford’s Type 2 Incident Management Team.
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Wild horses are attracted to a new water source near the Patch Springs Fire Aug 14, 2013. The tank holds water for refilling helicopter water buckets. Photo credit @UtahFireInfo
(UPDATED at 6:50 p.m. MDT, August 15, 2013)
Map of the Patch Springs Fire at 3:25 p.m. MDT, August 15, 2013. The squares indicate heat detected by a satellite, with the red areas being the most recently burned.
The Patch Springs Fire has been active today, spreading at least two to three miles to the north and moving closer to the town of Terra on the south. By late afternoon officials closed Highway 199 to help provide a better environment for firefighters working in the area. “Precautionary evacuations” are underway for the Willow Community northeast of Terra.
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(Originally published at 11:09 a.m. MDT, August 15, 2013)
The 13,000-acre Patch Springs Fire, started from lightning on August 10, has grown to within a mile of the outskirts of Terra, Utah, which is just south of the fire. The Terra Fire Chief and the Patch Springs Incident Commander have set trigger points for the possible evacuation of the town and the potential closure of Highway 199 (Johnson’s Pass). Today crews, a dozer, and aircraft will be reinforcing a fire line around the community.
The north end of the fire is burning in Antelope Canyon, 10 miles from the Tooele Army Depot, a Superfund hazardous materials site with 902 ammunition storage igloos.
Map of Patch Springs and Rockport Fires, showing heat detected by a satellite. The red dots were seen at 4:20 a.m. MDT August 15, 2013. The location of the Rockport Fire can be seen at the upper right, where 13 homes burned. (click to enlarge)
The Patch Springs Fire is being suppressed by 12 engines, 3 handcrews, a water tender, 2 helicopters, a dozer and air attack, for a total of 149 personnel.
Map showing approximate locations of heat detected on the Rockport Fire at 2:39 p.m. MDT, August 14, 2013 (click to enlarge)
The map above shows the approximate location of the Rockport Fire that has burned at least 13 residences, approximately 20 outbuildings, several vehicles, and 2,000 acres near Rockport, about 8 miles northeast of Park City, Utah. The red squares indicate heat detected by a satellite, but the locations can be off by as much as a mile. The map indicates that the fire is burning through a populated area with homes on large lots.
It started Tuesday afternoon and slowed overnight and Wednesday morning but it was active enough at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday that a scheduled press briefing had to be relocated from Wanshop (north of Rockport Lake) to the Summit County Justice Center in Park City due to “media and staff safety”.
The Governor of Utah has signed legislation, S.B. 120, that will allow the state forester to restrict target shooting during periods of enhanced wildfire danger.
When first introduced by state Senator Margaret Dayton it was temporarily withdrawn after the bill received criticism from some, including Utah Shooting Sports Council Chairman Clark Aposhian who was quoted as saying:
If it restricts gun owners from going there, then it should also restrict bird watchers. It has to be closed to everybody.
The legislation does not close areas to the public. It allows the state forester to “restrict or prohibit target shooting in areas where hazardous conditions exist”.
The legislature in Oregon is considering a bill, HB 3199, that would prohibit the use of sky lanterns (or fire balloons), exploding targets, and tracer ammunition on land within the boundaries of a forest protection district.
