Saratoga Springs, Utah:
Residents of at least 2,300 homes in northern Utah were being evacuated on Friday after high winds kicked up a fire started by target shooters.
The roughly 4,000-acre blaze, or about 6.25 square miles, started Thursday near the Saratoga Springs landfill, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. High winds then helped fan the flames onto tinder-dry grasslands.
Authorities were initially worried as flames moved toward property owned by an explosives company. But as winds kicked up, the fire began moving toward Saratoga Springs, and crews began focusing on saving homes.
Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Teresa Rigby said the 2,300 houses evacuated include residents who voluntarily left, along with those ordered to leave.
On Friday, fire officials were calling in additional aircraft and extra ground crews.
BLM officials say they believe the blaze was caused when a bullet hit a rock and sparked the fire. This is the 20th target-shooting related fire this year in Utah, they said.
One firefighter had suffered minor burns, and no structural damage had been reported, said Jason Curry, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said he feared the fire could take down the area's power grid, shutting off electricity to up to 7,000 homes.
"Several power poles and transformers ... up and down the fire lines have burned," Tracy said Friday evening. "If the fire gets a couple more critical poles and drops that grid, wires down on the ground, it will black out this entire area."
A continued mix of hot, windy and extremely dry conditions has raised the fire danger across Utah and parts of Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.
At a wildfire burning on more than 69,000 acres in northern Colorado, some homes were being evacuated Friday because of several spot fires started by winds outside the main fire. Some of those residents were evacuated after the fire flared up on Sunday and had only returned home Wednesday.
The mix of conditions that makes it easy for new fires to start and spread and cause existing fires to flare up is expected to last through Saturday there.
The fire west of Fort Collins has now destroyed at least 191 homes. It's also blamed for the death of a woman found dead at her ranch.
In southern Colorado, a new 300-acre fire near Mancos was threatening at least 10 structures and prompted officials to evacuate some homes east of town, federal officials said.
Gov. John Hickenlooper's office said Friday that the governor has signed executive orders releasing $6.2 million more in state disaster money to fight the fire and two others.
The northern Colorado fire will have $5 million more available, on top of $20 million made available by a previous order. The fire has qualified for 75 percent federal reimbursement for firefighting costs, Hickenlooper's office said. A fire near Lake George will get $1 million, and the Stuart Hole fire in Larimer County will receive $200,000. The disaster money is coming partly from reserve funds.
Meanwhile, the Village People will perform a free concert Saturday in Ignacio, Colo., to raise money for relief efforts at smaller wildfires in Colorado and New Mexico, The Farmington Daily-Times reported.
Those attending the show at the Sky Ute Casino will be asked to give cash donations to help relief efforts at a wildfire that's been burning for over a month near Pagosa Springs and a blaze along the San Juan River that destroyed three structures in far northwestern New Mexico.
The roughly 4,000-acre blaze, or about 6.25 square miles, started Thursday near the Saratoga Springs landfill, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. High winds then helped fan the flames onto tinder-dry grasslands.
Authorities were initially worried as flames moved toward property owned by an explosives company. But as winds kicked up, the fire began moving toward Saratoga Springs, and crews began focusing on saving homes.
Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Teresa Rigby said the 2,300 houses evacuated include residents who voluntarily left, along with those ordered to leave.
On Friday, fire officials were calling in additional aircraft and extra ground crews.
BLM officials say they believe the blaze was caused when a bullet hit a rock and sparked the fire. This is the 20th target-shooting related fire this year in Utah, they said.
One firefighter had suffered minor burns, and no structural damage had been reported, said Jason Curry, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said he feared the fire could take down the area's power grid, shutting off electricity to up to 7,000 homes.
"Several power poles and transformers ... up and down the fire lines have burned," Tracy said Friday evening. "If the fire gets a couple more critical poles and drops that grid, wires down on the ground, it will black out this entire area."
A continued mix of hot, windy and extremely dry conditions has raised the fire danger across Utah and parts of Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.
At a wildfire burning on more than 69,000 acres in northern Colorado, some homes were being evacuated Friday because of several spot fires started by winds outside the main fire. Some of those residents were evacuated after the fire flared up on Sunday and had only returned home Wednesday.
The mix of conditions that makes it easy for new fires to start and spread and cause existing fires to flare up is expected to last through Saturday there.
The fire west of Fort Collins has now destroyed at least 191 homes. It's also blamed for the death of a woman found dead at her ranch.
In southern Colorado, a new 300-acre fire near Mancos was threatening at least 10 structures and prompted officials to evacuate some homes east of town, federal officials said.
Gov. John Hickenlooper's office said Friday that the governor has signed executive orders releasing $6.2 million more in state disaster money to fight the fire and two others.
The northern Colorado fire will have $5 million more available, on top of $20 million made available by a previous order. The fire has qualified for 75 percent federal reimbursement for firefighting costs, Hickenlooper's office said. A fire near Lake George will get $1 million, and the Stuart Hole fire in Larimer County will receive $200,000. The disaster money is coming partly from reserve funds.
Meanwhile, the Village People will perform a free concert Saturday in Ignacio, Colo., to raise money for relief efforts at smaller wildfires in Colorado and New Mexico, The Farmington Daily-Times reported.
Those attending the show at the Sky Ute Casino will be asked to give cash donations to help relief efforts at a wildfire that's been burning for over a month near Pagosa Springs and a blaze along the San Juan River that destroyed three structures in far northwestern New Mexico.
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