Extreme heat and dry, windy conditions fueled several wildfires in the West on Sunday, including an uncontained blaze in Utah that forced the evacuation of a small town southwest of Salt Lake City.
Utah Wildfire
The Iron Fire in Utah’s Juab County was first detected Saturday and had blackened 34 square miles, authorities said. The fire about 70 miles southwest of Salt Lake City forced the evacuation of Eureka, population 1,000, and people at a nearby ranch.
No homes had been lost, and UTAH Fire Info, a multiagency operation, said in a post that firefighters conducted a successful backburn operation to protect the town.
Regional Impact
In neighboring Colorado, the southwest corner of the state was under a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service until Monday, due to gusty winds and low relative humidity.
A wildfire prompted evacuations over the weekend near Sedona, Arizona, burning about 300 acres of steep and rugged terrain near Oak Creek Canyon. As of Sunday afternoon, the fire remained uncontained.
Much of the Western U.S. from the Rockies to the Pacific coast saw above-average temperatures this weekend with even hotter weather anticipated for early next week.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
