Update: Alaskan Fire in Ogden Canyon now 25% contained at 2.5 acres

Photo Courtesy: Utah Fire Info

OGDEN CANYON, July 15, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — The Alaskan Fire in Ogden Canyon is now 25% contained at two-and-a-half acres, officials said Thursday morning.

“There is a hose lay around the fire perimeter,” a tweet from Utah Fire Info said. “Ogden Canyon Road is open. Today, two engines and a 10-person squad are assigned, two helicopters are available to assist if needed. Drive cautiously nearby.”

The cause remains under investigation, the tweet said.

Weber Fire District Deputy Chief David Reed told Gephardt Daily Wednesday night: “We’re still looking into it, but it looks human caused, probably by accident. It might have been a spark caused by a vehicle dragging a chain, or exhaust. Sometimes that will blow out carbon pieces. But it doesn’t look like someone stopped and lit it, and it wasn’t power lines like someone was reporting. There is no evidence power lines had anything to do with it.”

The fire was on a steep slope, Reed said, noting that decreases the odds it was arson. That same steep slope meant more moisture in the ground, he said, and the fact that so many trees covered the area means the fire spread more slowly than if it had been fueled by tinder-like grass and shrubbery, he said.

“It wasn’t blowing out like some fires do,” he said.

No structures are threatened.

“There have been no injuries, and no structures lost yet, and I don’t think they will be,” Reed said. “What scares me is the thought of firefighters falling on the steep draw.”

A draw is a terrain feature formed by parallel ridges, usually with a steep drop.

Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.

 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here