Crews continuing to battle Dry Canyon fire near Parowan, motorists advised to avoid SR-143

Firefighters prepare to work on Dry Canyon fire near Parowan, Utah, June 28, 2018 | Photo courtesy of Parowan City Police Department, St. George News / Cedar City News

IRON COUNTY — Fire crews worked overnight on the containment of the Dry Canyon wildfire near Parowan. According to a Thursday morning briefing held by the Type 4 Incident Command team, the blaze, which started about 3 p.m.Wednesday, is about 30 percent contained as of 7:30 a.m., with between 30 and 40 acres burned so far.


Update June 29, 6:30 a.m. Crews made “good progress” on the Dry Mountain fire Thursday, fire information officer Nick Howell reported. In an update sent via email at 10 p.m. Thursday, Howell said the fire was now 80 percent contained and had been mapped to 23 acres. The burned acreage is less than estimates of 30-40 acres made earlier in the day. In addition, the number of firefighters working the fire has been scaled back to one squad, one engine and one fire tender, freeing resources for other, larger fires in the area. State Route 143 remains open, and there are no structures threatened by the fire.


Parowan City Police Department reported Thursday morning about 40 local and state firefighters are on scene with eight fire engines and other support vehicles. Cedar City’s Hot Shot crew is on scene and the Snake River Hot Shots were reportedly scheduled to arrive around 9 a.m. Thursday, according to the police department’s Facebook post.

Air attack helicopters are expected to resume fighting the fire Thursday morning, and crews are continuing to battle the blaze on the ground.

“Due to the steep hillsides and heavy vegetation, crews have done a lot of hand work with saw crews and shovels to stop the fire’s progression,” the police department’s announcement said.

The blaze has been burning through standing dead trees and heavy vegetation in slot canyons off the main Parowan Canyon road. State Route 143 remains open, but motorists have been asked to refrain from unnecessary travel so that firefighters can have better access.

Although Red Flag warnings and high winds are expected later Thursday afternoon, fire crews are reportedly optimistic about securing the fire’s boundaries and increasing containment.

“Crews are making good progress,” said Utah Fire Info’s fire information officer Nick Howell.

Check Utah Fire Info’s website and Twitter page for more updates.

Howell said the Dry Canyon fire is believed to be “human caused” and that the investigation is ongoing.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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1 Comment

  • Brian June 28, 2018 at 10:00 am

    I wonder how 4 fires started across the state on the same day? It’s not like we had 3 the day before and 2 the day before that.

    Were conditions just right that they were spontaneous (like sunlight shining off a piece of metal, glass bottle, etc)? Was it just 4 coincidences (4 unrelated cases of human error)? It was a totally clear day, so I don’t buy the talk of lightning (comments on other stories).

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