Officials Investigate Cause of Elk Ridge Fire

Officials Investigate Cause of Elk Ridge Fire


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah County officials are investigating a wildfire that briefly threatened an Elk Ridge home Wednesday, but was quickly extinguished.

County Fire Marshal Tom Wroe said the blaze burned 20 acres of oak brush.

"We know it's human-caused," Wroe said. "What we can't determine is if this fire was an accident or arson."

He said the area that burned just southeast of Woodland Hills is often used by people driving off-road vehicles.

The fire started within the Elk Ridge city limits and then moved to state lands. Emergency crews were called to the scene just before 1 p.m.

Flames came within 50 feet of a house, which was evacuated. The family was allowed to return about three hours later.

Elsewhere in the state, firefighters fully contained the 2,100-acre Crooked fire four miles south of Goshen and were shifting their efforts to the nearby Pinyon fire, six miles northwest of Elberta.

Four crews from the Crooked fire were dispatched Wednesday to the Pinyon fire, which has burned more than 370 acres.

The Goshen Canyon and Pinyon Canyon roads are both closed.

Although the Crooked fire has been contained, there still is vegetation burning within the interior and some runs are expected within the containment lines, the Bureau of Land Management said.

Both fires were started by lightning.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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