A Wildfire Has Been Burning For Over A Week And Charring Over 1,000 Acres Of Land In Utah
This is the moment thick plumes of crimson smoke rise high into the sky from a wildfire that has been burning in Utah for over a week and has made its way across 1,371 acres of land.
The wildfire has been spreading across the rugged terrain of Bennion Creek in the state of Utah in the United States since last Friday (4th June).
The dry and windy conditions provided optimal conditions for the fire to spread and on Tuesday (8th June) it burnt through several different forests whilst fire services tried to subdue its progress.
Local news site Kjzz reports that currently, 150 personnel are on-site tackling the blaze from a range of local fire stations and from the U.S. Forest Service.
As a safety measure, two roads have been closed off a nearby Boy Scout’s camp has been evacuated.
Jamie Barnes, from the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said in a statement that: “As we’ve seen these most recent wildfires, it is clear that fire danger is higher than in any year in recent memory.”
The DNR reported that the fire is currently only 25 percent under control whilst several other fires in Utah are also less than 50 percent under control.
The heatwave that the region has been wrestling with led Spencer Cox, the Governor of Utah, to issue the state’s third drought declaration this year in what he described as “exceptional drought circumstances”.
Firefighters work continuously in order to maximize containment efforts but strong winds and exceptionally dry conditions are fuelling the blaze.
As of now, the cause of the fire is unknown.