4 wildfires burn across state


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SALT LAKE CITY — Crews throughout Utah are battling four wildfires that have started this weekend in Utah — at least three lightning caused — that have burned close to 3,000 acres.

Fighting the fires has been complicated by potentially dangerous conditions facing crews as the heat wave continues to sizzle across the state, prompting an extreme heat warning by the National Weather Service.

The agency reported temperatures that hit 105 degrees at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Salt Lake City International Airport, a new record high for the date. It also hit 105 degrees there on Friday, with the weather service reporting that prior to this year, the airport had never reached that temperature during the month of June.

Wildflower Fire

Wildland fire agencies reported the latest blaze at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, called the Wildflower Fire, which is burning in remote Tooele County. It started northwest of the Death Canyon Fire has burned through more than 200 acres.

Antelope Fire

The largest fire caused by a Friday lightning strike is the Antelope Fire burning west of Cove Fort at 1,600 acres in Millard County. Another fire, the Gap Fire, is half-contained and has burned 881 acres about 20 miles north of Cedar City.

Crews were hoping to have that blaze contained sometime Saturday. It was 30 percent contained by 7 p.m.

Death Canyon Fire

he Death Canyon Fire had been "creeping around," on Simpson Mountain in Tooele County, but the 200-acre blaze was beginning to accelerate Saturday afternoon and new lightning ignitions were observed to the east of the blaze.

Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Lisa Reid said an aerial attack was carried out to try to snuff out the new fire starts and officials are trying to map the blaze to get a better idea of its full extent.

Rock Creek Fire

Another lightning-caused fire that began two weeks ago, the Rock Creek Fire, has been contained but is being closely monitored for any hot spots. The fire burned 180 acres in extremely rugged terrain about 15 miles of East Carbon.

Cedar Point Fire

The Cedar Point Fire burned 5 acres at Camp Williams Friday, but was reported to be fully contained by 3 a.m. Saturday. It was human-caused, according to officials.

So far this year, there has been 239 wildfires, with the vast majority caused by humans.



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Amy Joi O'Donoghue

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