Two people running from a fire were rescued by the Deputy
The truck that ignited and started a new fire near the Knolls Fire in Utah County, Utah south of Provo June 28, 2020. Screenshot from video by Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
A Sheriff’s deputy was honored Wednesday for saving the lives of two people who were threatened by a fire that ignited when their truck got stuck near the Knolls Fire south of Provo, Utah.
On June 28, 2020 at about 9 p.m. Utah County Deputy Sheriff John Thomas saw the new fire and two people running from it. One was badly burned and was flown to a hospital after being rescued by Deputy Thomas.
It turns out that during an attempt to cut a fence to bypass a road closed by the Knolls Fire, their truck got stuck and leaked gas which ignited and started the fire south of Saratoga Springs on State Road 68.
Deputy Thomas saved their lives.
The video provides more details. Footage of the incident begins at about 1:20.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bill. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
And speaking of rescues on a wildfire, here is another one:
Fires in southwest Utah. Data from fixed wing mapping flights around 8 p.m. MDT July 14, 2020.
Three large wildfires are burning in southwest Utah.
At least one home has burned in the 2,618-acre Veyo West Fire which is very close to Veyo, Utah and 18 miles northwest of St George, Utah.
A BAe-146 air tanker drops on the Turkey Farm Road Fire. @UtahWildfire photo.
The Turkey Farm Road Fire was very active Tuesday and was mapped at 11,993 acres Tuesday night. A Type 2 Incident Management Team has been mobilized. The fire is 3 miles north of St George.
Law enforcement officials are asking for help in identifying the individuals who started the fire with fireworks.
The 4,000-acre Big Summit Fire started July 13 about 17 miles northeast of Panaca, Nevada and burned into Utah. It is 10 miles north of Modena, Utah and 61 miles northwest of St George, Utah. No structures have burned in either state. Evacuations were in effect July 14.
Traverse Fire at Lehi, Utah caused by fireworks. Photo by Justin Reeves June 28, 2020.
A person using fireworks ignited a wildfire south of Salt Lake City, Utah that led to evacuations north of Lehi.
The Traverse Fire was reported around 12 p.m. Saturday and quickly grew onto Traverse Mountain. Notices from Lehi Community Emergency Response around 3 a.m. Sunday said several areas near the mountain were ordered to evacuate: “Any homes one quarter mile radius from Vialetto Way to Annuvolato Way evacuate, also Autumn Hills Blvd and Spring View Lane.” In Draper city the Maple Hollow neighborhood was ordered to evacuate at about 5 a.m. Sunday.
Aerial photo of the Traverse Fire Sunday morning, June 28 via @UtahWildfire. It burned up to the back yards of 23 homes in a new subdivision on West Autumn Hills Blvd.
The fire burned up to the back yards of 23 homes in a new subdivision on West Autumn Hills Blvd.
Map showing the approximate location of the Traverse Fire on the north side of Lehi, Utah.
At 11:55 a.m. Sunday Utah Fire Info reported that the Traverse Fire had been mapped at 450 acres. Evacuations were still in effect but “will be reassessed after the anticipated, strong wind event in the forecast has passed.” A current Red Flag Warning for the area is due to low humidity and 20 mph winds gusting over 40 mph through the afternoon. There is a good chance of rain after 3 p.m. Sunday.
Traverse Fire at Lehi, Utah caused by fireworks. Photo by Justin Reeves June 28, 2020.
The National Park Service and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem are planning a fireworks extravaganza over the pine forest at Mount Rushmore National Memorial July 3, 2020.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Rick. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Above: Screenshot from the NASA video below about fire spread model research during a prescribed fire in Utah, June, 2019.
U.S. Forest Service scientists and others with the interagency Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment, or FASMEE, teamed up with the Fishlake National Forest to study a prescribed fire from start to finish.
After months of planning and preparation, fire crews ignited more than 2,000 acres of Utah forest in an effort to consume living upper canopy vegetation and initiate growth of new vegetation. This June 2019 prescribed fire was designed to restore aspen ecosystems by removing conifer trees and stimulating the regrowth of aspen.
Researchers at the Pacific Northwest Research Station and Rocky Mountain Research Station, as well as other FASMEE participants, saw the fire as a unique opportunity for study.
During the event a fire model used for forecasting where and how a fire will move was put to the test. Adam Kochanski of the University of Utah used the opportunity to test the fire model known WRF-SFIRE.
WRF-SFIRE is a collaborative effort of NASA-funded teams from CU Denver, University of Utah, and Colorado State University. The project is led by Jan Mandel, Adam Kochanski and Kyle Hilburn.
The video below provides more details about the project and the test of the new fire model.
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:
At 6:30 p.m. on Monday the size of the Francis Fire between Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah was estimated at 100 to 200 acres but Tuesday morning fire officials said it spread since then to 550 acres. (Later in the morning that was changed to 365 acres.)
The weather overnight was conducive to additional fire growth, with the relative humidity remaining in the 20s until it began rising after 2 a.m. eventually topping out at 82 percent at 7 a.m. when 0.03 inches of precipitation was measured at the BEUU1 weather station near Ogden. The overnight wind speed was 3 to 8 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.
In a briefing Tuesday morning fire officials said the cause of the fire was lighting that occurred a week ago.
UPDATE – #FrancisFire caused by lightning… a week ago. They think it started some brush smoldering, but it wasn’t until the strong wind yesterday that it fanned into flames. #Utah@KUTV2News
It is not common for a lightning strike to ignite light to medium fuels, such as grass or brush as seen in the video above, and for it to smolder unreported for a week near a heavily populated area before growing into a large wildfire. But it is possible that investigators found evidence at the point of origin indicating a lightning strike and lightning occurrence data confirmed a ground strike at that location.
The mandatory evacuations ordered Monday were lifted at 10 p.m. Monday.
(Originally published at 6:47 p.m. MDT September 16, 2019)
A vegetation fire that was reported around 3 p.m. MDT Monday has spread across a slope above Fruit Heights between Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah. Structures have been threatened and the Davis County Sheriff’s Office (@DavisCountySO) has ordered evacuations in some areas. (see map below)
At 6:30 p.m. @UtahWildfire, a Twitter account associated with a government agency, reported that the Francis Fire had burned 100 to 200 acres. A strong wind has been pushing it across the slopes and caused spotting in the grass and oak brush.
In addition to the 17 fire engines working the fire, the aircraft assigned include an MD-87, a BAe-146 (Tanker 168), and four helicopters plus an air attack ship and lead plane. Below we have one video from Twitter of an air tanker drop, and more are on Fire Aviation.
