18 buildings destroyed as southern Utah blaze continues to burn amid windy conditions
PINE VALLEY, Washington County — A wildfire in southern Utah is continuing to spread, destroying more homes in its wake. The total of homes grew from 12 to 14 overnight Saturday, plus four other structures were destroyed.
The blaze, dubbed the Forsyth Fire, started outside the Pine Valley community in Washington County Thursday night but has quickly grown to about 1,640 acres, according to Utah Fire Info. It remains 0% contained as of Saturday at 9 a.m., and the cause of the fire is 'natural,' Utah Fire Info said.
'I spent a good portion of the day in Pine Valley. I saw hundreds of first responders keeping the town safe. Unfortunately, the winds changed quickly,' Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby said.
At least 150 firefighters have been dispatched to fight the blaze.
Another round of gusty southwest winds is expected across some of southern Utah on Saturday, with gusts upward of 50 mph expected, the National Weather Service said. Combined with low humidity, critical fire weather conditions will continue throughout Saturday in the area.
'The firefighters were shocked. They had busted their butts for two days with, maybe two hours of sleep to protect the community. They lost structures. That is the worst of the worst in their world. I could see it in their eyes. They gave it all they had, and still lost to mother nature,' the sheriff said.
Saturday morning, Rocky Mountain Power announced a public safety power shutoff is now in place for central and southern Utah due to wildfire danger.
'Community safety and reducing wildfire risk are our top priorities,' said Pete Singh, Rocky Mountain Power's incident commander. 'We take the decision to turn off power very seriously. Public safety power shutoffs will be targeted, precise and guided by real-time data from conditions on the ground.'
About 400 to 500 people were evacuated from Pine Valley in the last two days, as well as the Pine Valley Campground, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Jenny Plecki said in an earlier update. She estimated that 450 homes were evacuated, half of which were occupied by full-time residents.
The evacuation was ordered as flames started moving downslope toward the community, Chad Walker, incident commander for the U.S. Forest Service, told KSL-TV. Kelly Cannon, one of the residents forced to evacuate, said she saw the fire get very close to homes on her way out.
'I think the scariest thing was not knowing ... if it was going to come down on our street,' she said. 'We didn't know how far the fire had spread, but we could definitely see — I think the flames were like 3 feet high.'
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