UPDATED at 11:20 p.m. Tuesday with information obtained via area residents and Twitter feeds.

UPDATED with additional photos 9:52 p.m.

UPDATED 9:20 p.m. on information obtained from Pete Kuhlmann, Washington County Emergency Services.

HURRICANE – A brushfire burning an estimated 300 acres as of 6:35 p.m. was first reported to county dispatch at 5:14 p.m. and to Color Country Interagency around 5:20 p.m.

Sandra Woodring Adams, witnessing and photographing the fire, posted on Facebook post at 5:20 p.m., that the “fire was spotted above 1300 S in Hurricane, it seems to be a brush fire heading up the canyons in Angel Heights.”

Adams later posted that the “Fire line seems to extend from Angel Heights in the south end of town to the ridge above around 650 S on the North end of town, all on the “H” mesa – nothing in Hurricane is threatened right now.” County dispatch said that the fire started at 294 West and 1910 South in Hurricane, on the hill behind the residence there.

The Washington County dispatch officer said that the fire has traveled up to state Route 59 toward the Diamond Ranch Academy and people are being escorted through because of the smoke.

At 8:45 p.m. Washington County Emergency Services Director Pete Kuhlmann said that Utah Highway Patrol has been escorting people through about a mile and a half stretch of state Route 59, between mile markers 16 and 17 as a precaution. He said that UHP and Utah Department of Transportation and the Washington County Sheriff’s department is assisting in the escort.

Kuhlmann said that Hurricane City Police Chief has set up incident command at the Diamond Ranch Academy and the children there are in place. There is currently no threat to the Academy.

Kuhlmann said that the fire is not down on the highway but they wanted to make sure to have traffic control as a precaution.  He said the fire is in the Angel Heights subdivision area but that there are no structures threatened and at this point (8:45 p.m.) the fire is moving away from the subdivision.

Multiple resources are on scene to assist Hurricane Fire Department. At 7:30 p.m. an additional fire truck was requested to the scene from Washington City Fire Department.

At 9:10 p.m., Washington County Emergency Services reported that the brush fire is threatening homes near the Angel Heights and Rainbow Canyon subdivisions. No evacuations have been ordered yet.  People are advised to avoid the area. Fire units are working to contain the fire and protect the threatened structures.

Also, the fire has continued toward SR-59 and vehicles are being escorted as a precaution between mile markers 16 and 17 on SR-59.

The fire currently stands at 600 acres.

Please note, the following information is from Facebook and Twitter posts, and has not yet been confirmed to St. George News by the authorities. 

Residents have said via Facebook that there have been no calls for evacuation.

The fire is said to currently cover the Hurricane hill between the H and Molly’s Nipple.

There have been reports of power outages in Apple Valley and parts of Hurricane. Rocky Mountain Power, which covers portions of Hurricane and Apple Valley,  confirmed reports of outages had been received,  but could not say whether or not the fire was responsible.

As of 11:15 p.m., UtahFireInfo tweeted that the Hurricane fire is currently estimated at 1,000 acres with zero-percent containment. However, SR 59 reopened at 11 p.m.

 

This is a developing story and will be updated as developments are confirmed.

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Twitter:  @JoyceKuzmanic

Copyright 2012 St. George News.