UTAH, June 9, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Two Utah wildfires are causing trouble for firefighters Wednesday night.
Winds shifted Wednesday night, forcing crews fighting the Pack Creek Fire, near Moab, to retreat from their ground attack.
“Update — Winds shifted, driving the fire down the canyon,” says a tweet issued at 9:42 p.m. Wednesday night. “Multiple structures are threatened. Ground crews have had to disengage due to the extreme fire behavior.”
A tweet issued about 90 minutes earlier said the fire was estimated at 120 acres, and, at that time, “No evacuations have been ordered, the fire is currently moving away from structures,” circumstances that changed.
The Pack Creek Fire had been announced as a new start at 5:16 p.m. Wednesday in a Utah Fire Info text that said it was originally 5 acres, and was burning in San Juan County on the Manti-La Sal NF south of Moab. A Forest Service campground and one structure were threatened, it said, and the wildfire’s cause was under investigation.
Bear Fire
There was also an update on the Bear Fire Wednesday evening. The fire reached US-6 in Carbon County, near Bear Canyon.
“The highway is closed in both directions,” said a statement issued by Great Basin Incident Management Team 3.
“Please use the UDOT Traffic app, follow @UDOTTRAFFIC on Twitter or visit https://udottraffic.utah.gov/ for updated information on the closure and alternate routes.
The fire is on the west side of US-6 and one of our primary objectives is to keep it west of US-6,” Type 3 Incident Commander Jason Porter said.
“Tonight, the Bear Fire is estimated at 5,300 acres with no containment reported. An investigation has determined that the fire was started by lightning.
“There are three hotshot crews, 10 engine crews and a helicopter assigned to the fire. The Bear Fire is sharing additional air resources with the nearby Bennion Creek Fire.”
Those air resources are also being used to assist with initial attack on a new start near Moab, according to Porter.
A Type 2 incident management team has been ordered and is expected to take command of the fire on Saturday.
“We’re very concerned about Thursday’s forecast though,” Porter said, noting that a dry cold front is expected to move through the area.
“We’re expecting wind gusts up to 50 mph,” he said. “If that happens, it will ground our aircraft and those high winds could also lead to an increase in fire activity.”
Temperatures are expected to moderate on Friday once the cold front passes through.
Other Utah wildfires
For updated information on other Utah wildfires, visit the Utah Fire Info website for an interactive version of the static map depicted above, or check the UtahFireInfo Twitter account of the most current updates.
