A series of wildfires in Tooele County in the past couple of days serve as a reminder there are still dangerous fire conditions, according to Tooele County Fire Warden Daniel Walton.
A fire in Skull Valley west of Terra was sparked by lightning around 7 p.m. on Tuesday and quickly spread to more than 1,000 acres, Walton said. The fire didn’t threaten any structures and occurred mostly on Bureau of Land Management property, burning to a peak of 1,278 with 40 percent containment.
Walton said fire crews used a bulldozer to create a fire break and used engines to suppress the flames. Since it did not threaten structures, crews allowed the fire to burn itself out in some areas due to lack of fuel.
Fire crews from the BLM, state Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and Terra Fire Department battled the blaze, according to Walton. Terra Fire Department handled the initial attack on the fire.
Another wildfire sparked by lightning on Tuesday caused a precautionary early release of Ditto area employees at Dugway Proving Ground, according to a release from the military installation. Workers were released early to ensure commuters could leave the installation before smoke obscured the roadway.
The range fire, which grew to more than 450 acres, was 5 miles inside the main gate and Ditto employees were 5 miles or more from the fire.
Dugway Fire Department managed the fire and commenced back-burning to prevent the wildfire from spreading, the release said. As of Wednesday evening, Dugway Proving Ground Emergency Operations Center did not project the fire would impact normal operations on Thursday.
There was a small fire about 2 miles northeast of Terra, which burned a few acres, Walton said. There was also a fire near Ibapah which was handled by Nevada fire crews, and a fire south of Vernon Reservoir, which was in Juab County but local fire units were dispatched to assist.
Tooele County was assigned a red flag warning from the National Weather Service on Wednesday due to a high risk of fire-causing conditions. Walton said the combination of hot temperatures, dry fuel, dry lightning and gusting winds created very extreme conditions for fire.
Vegetation below 6,500 feet in elevation are extremely dry and fire restrictions are expected to remain in place for the foreseeable future, Walton said.