Fire aggressively burning national forest near Strawberry Reservoir, structures threatened
UPDATE: (July 2, 4:40 p.m.) - Pinion Ridge residents should begin evacuating at this time, per Duchesne County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Travis Tucker.
UPDATE: (July 2, 2:50 p.m.) - The Duchesne County Sheriff's Office reports immediate evacuations have been ordered within the following boundaries:
Beginning at the Wasatch-Duchesne County line headed east along the Currant Creek Stream to the Lower Red Creek Road, south on the Lower Red Creek Road to the Strawberry Pinnacles Junction, continuing south from the Strawberry Pinnacles Junction on the Avintaquin Canyon Road to the junction of Horse Ridge Road, south on Horse Ridge Road to the Reservation Ridge Road.
Violation of this evacuation order is a violation of state law punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of $1,000. Any violations will be strictly enforced, DCSO stated in a new release.
The order states it also restricts all entry to the established hazard area. No on will be allowed to re-enter the area until the evacuation order has been lifted.
The county will notify the public when the order is lifted once public safety can be assured, DCSO says.
UPDATE: (July 2, 12:58 p.m.) - Additional evacuations have been ordered due to long range spot fires from the Dollar Ridge Fire. Camelot Resort and cabins down river along Strawberry Gorge are under mandatory evacuations, according to Utah Fire Info.
(UPDATE: July 2 8: 34 a.m.) - Strawberry River Road is closed at Camelot, due to the Dollar Ridge Fire.
(KUTV) — A new fire as blazed up southeast of Strawberry Reservoir and is aggressively burning national forest land. Sunday evening officials said the blaze is threatening approximately 10 structures, as many as seven of them cabins.
According to Utah Fire Info, the blaze was estimated to have grown to 6,600 acres by 9 p.m. Sunday and has been titled the Dollar Ridge Fire. It started with some burning timber on private property and was initially reported at 20 acres and increased in size every few hours Sunday.
There were some evacuations because of the swiftly-growing fire, though it is not yet clear where. Fire officials believe it did not start from natural causes.
“This is a pretty fast moving fire. It’s made some very aggressive wind driven uphill runs. It’s spotted over hill, into canyons," said spokesman Jason Curry. " Very explosive growth.”
Fire officials told 2News reporter Lisa Nico that the blaze was burning steady and hot because of dry, windy terrain. Because of the dangerous conditions, the only way to fight the fire Sunday was from the air. There were approximately 60 firefighters working on the fire.
A helicopter and fire engines are part of the firefighting battle of the fire.
