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.
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 on X that firefighters conducted a successful back-burn operation to protect the town.
Kelly Wickens, a fire prevention specialist with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, warned that the fire was continuing to grow amid drought conditions. Wickens said the blaze was human-caused and remains under investigation.
Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox visited the town Sunday.
“We knew that there was going to be extreme fire danger, and sure enough we had multiple fires,” Cox said.
The Iron fire was one of six fires burning in Utah at varying levels of containment.
A wildfire prompted evacuations over the weekend near Sedona, Ariz., burning about 300 acres of steep and rugged terrain near Oak Creek Canyon. As of Sunday afternoon, about 300 fire personnel were fighting the blaze, which remained uncontained. Residents evacuated earlier were still not allowed to return home.
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 this week. Officials warned that the prolonged dry, hot weather and relatively low humidity increased the risk of fire danger.
Much of Utah is experiencing severe to extreme drought, while parts of Arizona and Colorado are experiencing severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. In Colorado, the southwestern 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.
Extreme heat claimed the lives of three hikers in two incidents last week in the Grand Canyon. Temperatures were expected to climb in the Southwest through the weekend and beyond, reaching 106 degrees Sunday in Carlsbad, N.M.
Meanwhile, the Florida Forest Service said fire crews from across the state had nearly contained several brush fires in western Miami-Dade County.
Gonzalez writes for the Associated Press.
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