According to fire officials, an excess of 3,000 acres has fallen victim to two wildfires. One currently rages in Meadow Creek, while another wreaks havoc in Goat Canyon. Since 8:30 p.m. MDT on September 8, the former has claimed 1,200 acres, while the latter surpasses it with 2,000 acres in its lethal scope.
Mere hours prior to these estimates, Utah Fire Info had stated that the fire throughout Goat Canyon had devastated some 1,000 acres close to Meadow and Fillmore. Soon afterward they corrected themselves, placing the blaze between Scipio and Nephi. Nevertheless, they maintained that a somewhat smaller wildfire, the Meadow Creek one, did exist near the first two towns.
The Fire at Meadow Creek
The inferno at Meadow Creek resulted from a lightning strike at 5 a.m., which sparked the ravenous flame. Blowing afternoon winds upward of 20 miles per hour pushed the flame to spread. Dry vegetation and low humidity served as catalysts for the encroaching disaster, which advanced toward Meadow Creek.
Kourtney Bradshaw, a public information officer for Fishlake National Forest, saw that the flame had massively mushroomed around 9 p.m. By that time, it had scorched 1,200 acres, with nothing to contain it. The city watershed had also been in danger of the fire, which would have cut off people from their potable water.
The blaze now rules across jurisdictions, taking pieces of land from the state, the US Forest Service, as well as the Bureau of Land Management. It’s alarming near Fillmore, no more than 10 miles in distance. Some evacuations had already taken place, but the rest of the city has not yet left.
A multitude of groups has mobilized to help minimize harm the fire would incur. Officers from the county, state, and federal services are assisting operations. Numerous volunteers have also pledged to help.
Officials have closed off the road leading to the canyon, while other points of access have been stationed to ward people off from approaching the flames. Authorities are currently looking into how to stop another disaster altogether. Since the fire had stripped bare the land, there exists nothing to stymie any future flash floods. Heavy storms down the line could result in dangerous deluges.
The Fire at Goat Canyon
Reportedly, lightning was the culprit behind the Goat Canyon inferno as well. It had managed to roll over 2,000 acres but is 25 percent contained. As things stand at the moment, it poses no threat to any buildings or structures.
Sometime in the afternoon, the fire began rapidly swelling. From its origin point in the Bureau of Land Management land, it swiftly spread out into both state and private territory. However, it luckily did not affect the nearby freeway, from which drivers will likely see little more than smoke.
The flame is under suppression from several aircraft and 24 engineers. The current fighters are expecting another team. Their hope is that this additional assistance will accelerate the extinguishing process before more winds exacerbate the situation.