By Lynn DeBruin, APfills the sky Friday above Saratoga Springs, Utah.
By Lynn DeBruin, APfills the sky Friday above Saratoga Springs, Utah.
The decision came after the fire had burned Friday within a quarter mile of some homes in Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Teresa Rigby said.No homes have burned, she said, and fire officials were comfortable with the decision to lift the evacuation order after seeing how the 9-square-mile blaze behaved Saturday afternoon during high winds and high temperatures."The fire itself is still active but it no longer is a direct threat to homes," Rigby told The Associated Press. "Most of the fire is up on the mountain at this time and not near the subdivisions."
By Sam Noblett, GannettFlames roar down a Colorado mountainside Saturday.The evacuation order, imposed Friday, affected nearly 600 homes and roughly 2,300 residents, according to an updated count released Saturday by fire officials.Winds pushed some of the fire back on itself Saturday afternoon, Rigby said, and crews managed to put out "hot spots" closest to homes.The fire that officials believe was started Thursday by target shooters was 30% contained Saturday evening, with full containment expected Tuesday.Crews also were battling a 16,500-acre brush fire on high desert near the town of Delta in central Utah.The human-caused fire was 60% contained Saturday evening, BLM spokesman Don Carpenter said, and had burned no homes after breaking out Friday.While the fire was burning roughly eight miles from the communities of Lynndyl and Leamington, it posed no threat to them at this time, he said.Elsewhere:— A fast-growing blaze has spread to 75,537 acres in Colorado, making it the second-largest wildfire in the state's recorded history and threatening numerous homes north of Fort Collins.High Park Fire Incident Commander Bill Hahnenberg said Saturday morning that the fire spread rapidly toward two subdivisions, Glacier View Meadows and Hewlett Gulch, on Friday as the fire jumped the Narrows section of Poudre Canyon in highly erratic weather conditions and moved northwest. Containment of the fire was reported at 45 percent Saturday morning.Firefighters had to pull out of the neighborhood Friday when they encountered flames 200 feet high, he said."We saved two homes," he said. "And obviously we lost quite a few."There were 25 fire engines, two 20-person fire crews and five heavy air tankers fighting the fire in the Glacier View Meadows area Saturday, but possible wind gusts of more than 30 mph could ground the aircraft, he said— In Nevada, a wildfire that has scorched more than 11,000 acres of rugged terrain in northeast Nevada near the Utah line is 75% contained. It began as a U.S. Forest Service prescribed burn that escaped June 9.— In New Mexico, a lightning-caused wildfire that destroyed 242 homes and businesses is 90% contained after crews got a break in the weather. Crews took advantage of heavy rain Friday to increase containment lines on the 69-square-mile fire near Ruidoso that began June 4. Meanwhile, the more than 464-square-mile Whitewater-Baldy blaze, the largest in state history, is 87% contained. It began May 16 as two lightning-caused blazes that merged to form one fire.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. 