Wildfire south of Hurricane grows to 162 acres

Written by Ryne Williams
July 17, 2020

ST. GEORGE — A brush fire that ignited south of Hurricane Friday afternoon is keeping firefighters near the Utah-Arizona border busy.

An air tanker drops retardant on the Moon Fire in Southern Utah, July 17, 2020 | Photo by Ryne Williams, St. George News

What fire managers are calling the Moon Fire was first reported at approximately 1 p.m. about 1 mile south of the Hurricane Cliffs area. By 6 p.m., the fire was approximately 162 acres in size, according to Bureau of Land Management Utah Color Country District spokesperson Christian Venhuizen.

Venhuizen said the fire was burning through short grass and forward progress had been stopped as of 6 p.m.; however, crews are still working to contain the blaze. Currently, no structures are threatened.

At approximately 2:30 p.m., helicopters and air tankers could be seen circling the fire to drop water and retardant. When asked about the aggressive attack, Venhuizen said the Color Country Interagency responds to fires proportionately as they come across.

“We respond proportionately to events as they are identified, and we do our very best to ensure the safety of our firefighters as well as the communities that we are responding to and those around,” Venhuizen said.

The fire is believed to be human-caused, and anyone with information about how it started can call the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 435-634-5730.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryne Williams was a Scholar-Athlete, earning CCAA Second Team All-Conference honors while playing Basketball at San Francisco State University. He is a graduate of the University's College of Liberal and Creative Arts where he double majored in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts and History. A former host for the campus radio station, KSFS, Ryne previously worked for the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Raiders flagship radio station, 95.7 The Game.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGNews

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!