Firefighters along the Utah-Idaho border and on the Great Salt Lake's Stansbury Island were mopping up hot spots Tuesday after having tamed two blazes that had scorched a total of nearly 35,000 acres.
After completing 42 miles of fire lines Monday night, crews declared they had contained the 31,360-acre Elevator Canyon Fire about 120 miles north of Salt Lake City.More than 700 firefighters battled the six-day blaze, sparked by lightning Wednesday in the Samaria Mountain range. Flames destroyed two outbuildings, hundreds of acres of crops and came close to the tiny farming communities of Samaria, Idaho, and Portage, Box Elder County, before being turned back.
Meantime, the Castle Rock Fire on Stansbury Island was controlled at 6 p.m. Monday after having burned 3,200 acres, the Interagency Fire Center reported.
Another fire, the 8,700-acre Antelope Mountain fire northwest of Milford, was 80 percent contained Monday night, said Linda Jackson, fire information officer for the Fishlake National Forest.
She said erratic winds and steep terrain hampered firefighters. No final containment or control dates were predicted.
Also reported contained as of Monday night was the 6,400-acre Johnson Fire, 10 miles north of Tremonton. The Cave Canyon Fire, which had burned 700 acres, was 60 percent contained.
In all, fire officials reported, thunderstorms ignited more than 220 blazes in Utah in the past week that burned 150,000 acres before being contained or controlled. Most of the fires were lightning-caused.