PINE VALLEY, Washington County — Two wildfires in southern Utah are continuing to grow, while hundreds of firefighters are working to contain the fires and keep them from spreading through nearby recreational areas.
The France Canyon Fire near Bryce Canyon National Park now covers 32,504 acres — growing almost as large as the Yellow Lake Fire, Utah’s largest in 2024.
Officials said the fire is now 15% contained, and has a total of 760 people working to control it.
On Friday, fire crews completed a successful tactical firing operation on the south side of Proctor Canyon, and officials said Saturday they hope to do the same on the north side of the canyon. They are also working to bring the area near the Hillsdale community into full containment, and assessing the possibility of interior firing operations southwest of a reservoir.
The update said the weather Saturday will be warm, dry and sunny, and although a monsoonal surge is expected early next week, the chance of rain is still low and precipitation is not expected.
The Utah Department of Natural Resources captured almost 100 cutthroat trout from Blubber Creek which will be temporarily transported to a Fountain Green fish hatchery.
Bryce Canyon National Park is still open, although smoke in the area is expected, so officials encouraged monitoring air quality conditions with the fire and smoke map.
National Forest System lands in that area south of state Route 12 are closed with the exception of a few trails and campgrounds. Officials encouraged people to use extra caution when walking or driving in areas near the fire, noting that traffic control measures are in place to manage increased activity.
The Forsyth Fire in Pine Valley, which has already destroyed 14 homes, is now 11,642 acres large and 22% contained. Winds of up to 20mph aligning with the slopes are expected Saturday which could lead to growth in the fire.
The Washington County website shows that although residents were cleared to go home on Friday, evacuations are currently ordered in Pine Valley, Grass Valley and Gray’s Ranch, while the Pinto area is asked to be ready to evacuate and have a plan for where to go.
A crew of 682 people i fighting the Forsyth Fire, and have contained areas south, northeast and west of the Pine Valley community and from Water Canyon to the fire’s north point. The crews are identifying areas where the fire can be held at natural barriers and areas where they can safely engage with the fire.
Officials have said the fire started due to lightning. Like the France Canyon area, storms are expected early next week but will likely come with winds and dry lighting and only have a slight change of wet rain that would help the crews fight the fires.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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