KANOSH, Millard County — Crews had established a rough line around central Utah's 363,052-acre Milford Flat fire Saturday night and are reinforcing that line by dousing smoldering areas 132 feet from the line.
The fire is now 85 percent contained, said Rowdy Muir, commander of the Great Basin Type 1 National Incident Management Team fighting the largest blaze in state history.
Temperatures continued to rise, with highs reaching 102 degrees, a challenge for the firefighters.
"The best way I can explain it," Muir said, "is put a 45-pound pack on your back, add a chain saw, head up the mountains and start drinking lots of water."
Crews are paid $10-15 an hour, with an additional 25 percent of their hourly wage for hazard pay and time-and-a-half for overtime, he said. Supervisors are paid more.
"All I can say is they don't get paid enough," Muir said.
Costs to fight the fire thus far are $3.8 million.
"It only costs us 10 bucks an acre to put it out," said Muir, who is a cattle rancher in Wyoming near Flaming Gorge. "That's pretty cheap, isn't it? You can't even do prescription burns for 10 bucks an acre."
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com