Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah firefighters are on high alert as temperatures rise, winds pick up and grasses begin to dry out.
Salt Lake City Fire Battalion Chief Bob Silverthorne said those kinds of conditions caused several fire crews to respond to a small grass fire at California Avenue and Bangerter Highway in Salt Lake on Monday morning.
"It gives us some potential for some pretty fast-running fires if we don't get a quick stop on them," he told KSL-TV. "A lot of people don't really consider that we are in a fire season right now, but our fire season is well on its way. We are heavily in fire season."
That's exactly why two crews of wildland firefighters with Unified Fire Authority are spending the week up Emigration Canyon.
All are part of fire preparation. They are clearing out the dead and dry debris that has built up around homes.
"There is a lot more growth than in previous years. That's something that is problematic for us, something that we are paying attention to," said Ryan Love with Unified Fire. "We are looking at 90-degree temperatures (Monday) and throughout the rest of the week. It's also a bit windy up here. The combination of that is not great for fire behavior."
At Fire Station #4 in the upper Avenues in Salt Lake City, firefighters are also on heightened alert because of all the dry grasses that are beginning to appear around homes on the hillside.
"Every single day, we are in a posture of readiness anticipating a fire," said Salt Lake City Fire Capt. Scott Winkler. "Now that the floods are gone, and we are left with heavy fuels. We do live in a desert. The conditions will turn toward those red flag-type conditions. We will be in a fire pattern for the next two to three months."
Winkler said that's why the department offers homeowners the chance to set up an appointment and have firefighters come by their home and look over their defensible space. Salt Lake City homeowners can do that by going to the city website.
Firefighters said it would take everyone working together to make it through this fire season.
"We need a combined frontal assault on the fire problem. That comes from the fire department. That comes from our communities, our neighbors, our partners," Silverthorne said.
