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SALT LAKE CITY — Weather conditions don’t appear to be favorable for crews fighting fires in Utah County and east of Kamas, according to the National Weather Service.
Warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds are forecasted Friday for much of northern and central Utah, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for Friday and Saturday in an area that includes where the Pole Creek and Bald Mountain fires are burning in Utah County.
Great Basin Regional Incident Management Team officials said they expect similar conditions to reach the Mirror Lake Complex on Friday and that a red flag warning will be issued Saturday.
Two fires burning near the Mirror Lake Complex, east of Kamas continued to grow Thursday, officials wrote in an update Friday morning. The Murdock Fire burned another 510 acres Thursday after growing an additional 634 acres on Wednesday, bringing the total to 2,172 acres, according to Great Basin Regional Incident Management Team officials.
“It is burning in very steep drainages with 90 percent dead and down lodgepole pine trees and some aspen stands,” officials wrote in the report. “These very dangerous conditions are preventing firefighters from safely working directly near the fire area.”
The Slate Fire has burned a total of 634 acres as of Sunday and is 17 percent contained, officials said Friday.
Overall, 2,806 acres have burned in the area and the overall complex is 15 percent contained. Both fires were sparked by lightning in August and had burned for about a month when they began to increase in size this week.
Several trails in the area remain closed Friday because of the fires. Those include:
- The Highline Trail
- Naturalist Basin
- Four Lakes Basin
- East Fork Duchesne River Trail in the Murdock Basin
- Broadhead Meadows
- Lost Creek Campground
- Fehr Lake Trail
- Mirror Lake Campground
- North Fork Duchesne River Trail
- Mirror Lake trails
In the meantime, not much has changed with the Pole Creek Fire and Bald Mountain Fires. The fires remain 65 percent and 76 percent contained, respectively. Combined, the fires have scorched 120,500 acres, or more than 188 square miles, in southeast Utah County, according to U.S. Forest Service officials.
Today's Daily Updates for both the #polecreekfire#baldmountainfire for September 28th more information on the fires can be found at inciweb. https://t.co/EvlL78UtdLpic.twitter.com/SchFO2t096
— Uinta-Wasatch-Cache NF (@UWCNF) September 28, 2018
More than 1,000 personnel remain assigned to fighting the Pole Creek and Bald Mountain fires.
Crews gain some containment on Pole Creek Fire
