Wildfire Threatens Utah Town While Another Chars Some 70,000 Acres
NEW HARMONY, Utah, (AP) -- Suddenly shifting winds pushed a menacing wildfire toward this small town in southwestern Utah on Monday, forcing more than 1,000 people to evacuate their homes.
Don and Emily Jones said they saw a wall of fire heading toward the subdivision where they have lived since 1993. They managed to rescue their three dogs but could not find their two cats.
''When we looked out the back, we thought if our home is still there, it will be a miracle,'' Emily Jones said. It's not just property, ''it's your dreams,'' she said.
By late Monday, the winds had diminished and it was believed no homes were any longer in immediate danger, said Bureau of Land Management information officer David Boyd.
The National Interagency Fire Center said the blaze had burned 10,000 acres of grass, pinyon, pine and oak brush. It was 30 percent contained. An evacuation order was extended to the whole New Harmony area _ about 1,200 residents.
Earlier in the day, the winds had been pushing the fire away from New Harmony, providing a respite for people who had been in the fire's path.
Some 400 firefighters battled the blaze, along with six single-engine aircraft and at least two helicopters that were dropping water and retardant.
The fire stretched for about eight miles along Interstate 15, the main highway between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Intermittent closures of the highway have frustrated travelers since Saturday night.
The national fire center said Monday that 20 large fires were burning on more than 735,000 acres in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Washington.
In Nevada, a 33,500-acre wildfire that had blanketed Las Vegas with smoke and prompted the evacuation of a Boy Scout camp was nearing containment.
Fire information officer Joe Colwell said the Goodsprings fire southwest of Las Vegas was 80 percent contained, with full containment possible by Tuesday night.
''We're basically in a mop-up mode now,'' he said. ''But we still have pretty explosive conditions.''
In Southern California, a brush fire swept across 500 acres in the western Antelope Valley, destroying one building and forcing some residents to evacuate.
The fire broke out in the high desert 45 miles north of Los Angeles as firefighters in Mojave National Preserve near the Nevada border mopped up a 6-day-old blaze that scorched more than 70,600 acres.
About 200 firefighters were dispatched to the new blaze west of Lancaster, said Inspector Ron Haralson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Haralson said it was unclear how many people had been evacuated.
In the Mojave National Preserve, meanwhile, demobilization of the firefighting effort was under way. Full containment was expected to be declared sometime Monday evening.
Five homes and a number of other structures were destroyed by the fire, which burned in the remote region about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: www.nifc.gov
