Wildfire in Utah Forces Airlift of Boy Scouts

Friday, July 20th 2007, 4:06 pm

By: News On 6

NEPHI, Utah (AP) --A group of Boy Scouts and hikers had to be airlifted from a canyon as a wildfire swept through a campground and destroyed a nearby motel, authorities said Friday.

The fire started Thursday at a campground in Salt Creek Canyon, 85 miles south of Salt Lake City, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday. By Friday, 20 square miles, more than 13,000 acres, had burned. All campgrounds and cabins were evacuated along the Nebo Loop, a scenic road in Uinta National Forest, and 18 Scouts and hikers were rescued Thursday from Nephi Canyon.

``They'd had to get up in some real rough, rocky area to get away from the fire, so it could have been bad. But with quick work by the helicopters, they were able to get out,'' said Bert Hart, a spokesman at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The cause was under investigation, but there was a report of a car shooting sparks from the brakes, Uinta National Forest spokeswoman Loyal Clark said. Utah's weather was little help to firefighters; forecasters called for another day of 100 degrees or more throughout the state.

The nation's firefighting preparedness moved to its highest level this week because of bone-dry conditions in the West and the number of fires.

More moderate weather Thursday helped firefighters contain 13 large fires burning in the West, and others are expected to be contained in coming days, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Almost half the 72 large fires burning nationally are in Nevada and Idaho. Two tiny towns on the states' shared border were evacuated Thursday.

The 40 or so residents of Jarbidge, Nev., were ordered to leave because of fears that a nearby 195-square-mile fire could spill into the steep, narrow canyon where the town is located.

A 280-square-mile wildfire crept within a mile of Murphy Hot Springs, Idaho, on Friday, but so far none of the town's 50 homes has burned, fire managers said.

Firefighters started sprinklers in the yards nearest the fire, said Brock Astle with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The mandatory evacuation order imposed Thursday won't be lifted until at least Friday evening, the sheriff's office said.

Regular work schedules resumed Friday at the Idaho National Laboratory where more than 700 workers had been asked to stay home the previous day because of a wildfire. No facilities at the nuclear research site were in danger.

Near Reno, Nev., firefighters were getting a handle on a 4-square-mile wildfire that had threatened hundreds of homes on the edge of town. It was 34 percent contained and some of the more than 700 firefighters assigned to the fire were being sent to battle other blazes.

Firefighters made progress on a large wildfire in Los Padres National Forest near California's central coast, and an evacuation order for about 50 homes was lifted Friday.
In southwestern Utah, a group of fires that began in Zion National Park spilled into neighboring land. Evacuations were ordered and some structures were threatened, although numbers were not immediately available. The fires have burned 8,000 acres, or 12.5 square miles.