VERNAL — Firefighters were called to a pair of small brush fires that started Monday afternoon as efforts to bring a 3,200-acre wildfire on nearby Taylor Mountain under control continued.

The Taylor Mountain Road Fire, which destroyed three homes Saturday and forced the evacuation of Steinaker State Park, was 50 percent contained Monday night, according to Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Kelsey Birchell. The cause of fire remains under investigation, Birchell said.

Volunteer firefighters from Vernal and Naples, who were called out over the weekend to help launch the initial attack against the Taylor Mountain Road Fire, found themselves busy again with three fires Monday.

House and brush fires keep crews extra busy

The first fire was reported about 2 p.m. behind an unoccupied restaurant at 2750 West on U.S. 40. Flames quickly spread toward a nearby RV park and homes in the Air Village subdivision, but city fire crews — backed by wildland firefighters waiting to be assigned to the fire on Taylor Mountain — quickly brought it under control.

Uintah Fire District Director Jeremy Raymond said the fire started when a power line arced while a tree trimming crew was working to remove branches from cottonwood trees that were too close to the line.

Firefighters were still mopping up the first fire in the sweltering afternoon heat when two more calls came in — one for a brush fire on U.S. 40 less than 2 miles west of the first fire and the other for a house fire in Vernal.

A team of federal and local firefighters quickly extinguished the brush fire along the highway, which briefly slowed traffic in the area. The fire was likely caused by a passing vehicle, Birchell said.

Firefighters responding to the house fire near 1600 West and 500 South found smoke and flames showing when they arrived, Raymond said. They were able to contain most of the damage to the kitchen, where the fire apparently began due to an electrical problem with the oven, he said.

A woman who was asleep in the home when the fire started escaped injury. Raymond, who made a request to the state Monday for countywide fire restrictions in Uintah County, estimated the damage to the home at $15,000.

Preparing for an emergency

Tal Ehlers, director of emergency management for Uintah County, said the ongoing threat of wildfires — and the real possibility of mandatory evacuations that could follow — reinforces the need for people to have 72-hour kits and emergency plans in place.

"We don't spend our lives waiting with anticipation, 'Oh, my gosh. When is disaster going to strike?'" Ehlers said. "But when it does strike, we can say, 'OK, I know what to do because I already spent the time to think this through.'"

In some large-scale emergencies, the available resources of local, state and federal agencies can be quickly overwhelmed, he said. That's why it's critical that people have the essentials they need to "comfortably survive until outside assistance arrives."

"Food, water, shelter and fuel — those are always the most important things," Ehlers said.

Kits should be checked at least twice a year to make sure they're up to date, he said, and each member of the family, including pets, should have one stocked with the appropriate supplies. That may sound expensive, but Ehlers said it doesn't have to be.

"A lot of stuff, you probably have it all in your home," he said. "You just need to put it all in one location."

Medication is one thing that shouldn't be packed until an emergency arises, Ehlers said.

"We recommend that people not put medications into their 72-hour kits because medications have expiration dates," he said.

Instead, Ehlers encourages people to put a gallon-size plastic bag near the cabinet, cupboard or drawer where they store their prescriptions so they can grab them in a hurry.

"Just make sure that you have the ability to take those things with you," he said.

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