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Shelley Osterloh ReportingA fire is burning on Salt Lake City's east bench tonight. It's burning in the foothills above the St. Mary's area.
This is a wait and watch kind of fire. It's burned about 60 acres at about 1400 S. 3500 E., just north of the H rock.
Firefighters are keeping an eye on the wind as they watch the fire. If it begins to threaten nearby homes, they'll start fighting the fire.
Dennis McKone, Asst. to the Chief, Salt Lake Fire Dept.: "It'll go south for a while, then it'll go north, but like I said earlier, we're structure firefighters and our main objective is to protect these houses."
McKone says they have prepared to go into defensive mode if need be. The fire is burning on a very steep hillside covered with scrub oak.
Some BLM firefighters arrived on the scene just before 10:00 and will determine if they need to fight the fire.
Eyewitnesses say the fire was started by some sort of an explosion, possibly a transformer sparking the hillside on fire.
