Ironfire forced residents out of Eureka on the weekend after the blaze burned more than 2,000 acres in Juab county. The small town, with a population of 1,000, was evacuated along with people at a nearby ranch.
Kelly Wickens, a fire prevention specialist with the Utah division of forestry fire and state lands, said the fire was continuing to grow amid drought conditions. She said it was human-caused and remained under investigation.
Utah Fire Info on Eureka
Utah Fire Info said firefighters carried out a successful operation to protect Eureka. No homes had been lost, even as the evacuation order remained in place for residents and the nearby ranch.
Spencer Cox visited Eureka on Sunday and said, "We knew that there was going to be extreme fire danger, and sure enough we had multiple fires". The Iron fire was one of six fires burning in Utah at varying levels of containment.
The fire was first detected on Saturday and was burning about 70 miles south-west of Salt Lake City. Utah was dealing with severe to extreme drought, while much of the western US saw above-average temperatures over the weekend and parts of southern California faced an extreme heat advisory in the days ahead.
Kelly Wickens and the Iron fire
The evacuation put pressure on a town small enough that every home mattered, but the absence of losses so far left the focus on keeping the fire line from shifting back toward Eureka. How the Iron fire started is the open question that matters most next, because the cause will shape both the investigation and the next round of prevention efforts.
