Middlefork Fire in Weber County largely contained after torching 334 acres

HUNTSVILLE, Weber County — The Middlefork Fire in eastern Weber County is largely contained after torching more than 300 acres.

As of Monday, the human-caused fire was around 75% contained after burning 334 acres of land, according to Luke Minton, wildland division chief with Weber Fire District, which led efforts to fight the blaze.

"We've got crews on it today, and we anticipate no issues, and we'll probably see that containment continue to go up," he said. If the trend of increasing containment continues, he says, firefighting efforts will shift to "patrol monitoring status."

The fire, one of several that broke out across Utah over the weekend, was reported Saturday afternoon, and the cause, Minton said, remains the focus of the investigation. Utah Fire Info, a clearinghouse of information on active fires operated by state and federal firefighting authorities, said the blaze was human-caused.

The fire zone, near a campground in the state's Middle Fork Wildlife Management Area, is in an undeveloped area northeast of Pineview Reservoir and Huntsville. There are no homes in the immediate area of the fire, though it's near a corridor containing power lines.

The fire was the largest so far this season in Weber County. Larger blazes broke out around the state over the weekend, though, including the Iron Fire near Eureka in Juab County, which had torched nearly 22,000 acres and was zero percent contained as of Sunday night, according to Utah Fire Info. Thus, Weber Fire District officials had to wait in line for certain fire services, such as aerial fire support.

Utah fire officials, the U.S. Forest Service, and Hill Air Force Base Fire and Emergency Services helped fight the Middlefork Fire, among other agencies.