- The Monroe Canyon Fire destroyed 12 power poles, and threatens more transmission lines.
- Garkane Energy Cooperative plans to deploy generators to restore power amid ongoing outages.
- Firefighters still face severe conditions, which caused new evacuations and road closures on Wednesday.
MONROE, Sevier County — A wildfire burning in central Utah destroyed a dozen power poles and is still threatening transmission lines in the area, according to a key power provider for the state's south-central region.
More poles could burn depending on which way the Monroe Canyon Fire heads, Garkane Energy Cooperative officials said in an update on Thursday. They added that an outage affecting thousands of customers is expected to remain in place while they monitor the situation, but they're also exploring alternative ways to restore power in affected communities.
"We are transporting large-scale generators to the area to pick up the Wayne County and surrounding area's loads in an effort to restore power as quickly as possible to all our members affected," the company wrote in a social media post. "We know it's a major inconvenience to be without power, and our crews are working quickly and safely to get power to our members as soon as it's safe to do so."
The power provider announced it had to de-energize some of its transmission lines on Wednesday because of the fire. The outage affected customers in communities near the fire, like Koosharem, all the way down to Antimony, Garfield County. Wayne County communities like Loa, Torrey and Hanksville were also impacted.
The Monroe Canyon Fire burned nearly 12,000 acres over the past 24 hours, Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team No. 5 officials reported Thursday. It has scorched 48,363 acres since July 13, with most of the acreage burning over the last few days.
Crews 'forced to retreat'
Firefighters assigned to battle the massive fire were quick to acknowledge that Mother Nature has gotten the best of them in recent days, as the fire grows.
"Today was humbling. ... We lost the battle today (but) haven't lost the war yet," said Trent Ingram, commander of the Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team No. 5, during a public meeting Wednesday night.
Swift winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures — the three factors that go into a red flag warning — have all combined into conditions that have made the fire difficult to predict or battle. The conditions were so severe on Wednesday that multiple crews working to protect structures across multiple sections of the fire were "forced to retreat" because of how quickly the fire was spreading, which threatened firefighters' safety, the report added.
A few "spot fires" jumped across fire lines crews had set up around the Manning Meadows and Bagley Ranch areas, but the lines held up despite the conditions, firefighters added.
Still, the sudden burst in fire activity resulted in new evacuations and a brief closure of state Route 24 in the area, on top of the forced power outage. It wasn't immediately clear if any other structures were burned on Wednesday beyond the 12 power poles.
The impacts on the community have been "tough" to watch, Ingram said. He said that crews put together a plan to attack the fire, but everything was thrown out the window when the conditions became too overwhelming.
"The last thing we want to do is evacuations, road closures (or de-energizing) power lines. I'm going to lose sleep over that," he said. "We've got over 1,000 people on this fire — boots on the ground. We're throwing everything at it ... and it's just not stopping this thing."
What's worse, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for nearly all of central and southern Utah for Thursday. Meteorologists anticipate that red flag conditions will remain in the forecast into the weekend, creating more "critical" fire weather.
Great Basin Complex Incident Management officials say they will reenter some of the area they were forced to vacate on Wednesday, "where it is safe to do so."
Cox to provide update
Gov. Spencer Cox and other state officials are scheduled to provide an update to the state's fire response on Friday. The fire has become Utah's largest wildfire in five years, accounting for over 40% of the acres burned across the state this year.
"We've got your back, and we're here for whatever it is you need," said Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who attended Wednesday's meeting.
Firefighters at the meeting also urged people to respect closures as they continue to battle the fire. They added it's too late for evacuated areas, but they say residents in areas prone to fire should create a defensible space outside of their homes now to help crews protect it in case a wildfire breaks out.
