CEDAR CITY — Officials are optimistic the Graff Point Fire burning a few miles south of Cedar City will be kept from spreading much farther.
The wildland blaze was listed on InciWeb and Utah Fire Info as having burned 543 acres as of Tuesday evening, with containment estimated at 47%. Those numbers remained essentially unchanged as of Wednesday morning.
“Right now we have very high confidence that we’ll be able to keep this fire in its existing footprint,” said Mack McFarland, incident commander for Great Basin Interagency Incident Management Team 6, which took command of the fire Monday morning.
McFarland said that hopeful prediction is based on anticipated weather, along with the ongoing suppression efforts that have been made to contain the fire’s perimeter.
During a 45-minute community information meeting held at the Heritage Center in Cedar City on Tuesday evening, McFarland and several other officials provided updated information about the fire and answered questions from the public.
According to an interagency news release issued Wednesday, approximately 367 personnel are currently assigned to the fire. Among the resources presently deployed are eight fire engines and three helicopters.
As previously reported, the Graff Point Fire is believed to have been naturally started by a lightning strike around 10 p.m. Friday.
Cedar City Fire Chief Mike Phillips said multiple state and federal resources had already been working together earlier on Friday to battle a three-acre fire near 2400 North Main St. in Cedar City.
Around 11 p.m., Phillips said, reports began coming in about a wildfire visible on the mountain. Phillips said he asked Kanarraville Fire Chief Tyler Allred to check it out, which he did.
Phillips said extreme fire behavior prevented an immediate response that first night.
“We’re looking at it through binoculars, big timber, burning trees falling over,” he recalled. “OK, so first of all, we’re going to hurt somebody if we go in there tonight, right? So they left the BLM guy watching it all night.”
Phillips praised the teamwork and collaboration exhibited throughout the interagency response.
“We don’t really care what color the fire truck is,” he said. “If it’s a blue truck, red truck, yellow truck, green truck, white truck, it doesn’t matter. We’re all there to fight this fire and to protect the lives and property of our citizens.”
Earlier, McFarland commended the local agencies for their initial response to what was potentially a “scary” situation.
“With the alignment of this fire with Cedar City and the communities in between, we could see that this fire was very concerning in the direction that it could go,” McFarland said. “There was an incredible amount of work that was done to keep that fire from coming into town.”
McFarland also praised the hard work and dedication of local wildland fire crews, particularly the Cedar City Hotshots.
“These hotshot crews do amazing work,” he said. “We have 10 crews on the fire out there today, sleeping in tents or just out on the ground and working long hours to try to keep this fire from getting any bigger, and putting it out so that they can go home to their families and then go on another assignment.”
According to the latest two updates provided by Color Country Interagency Fire, the on-scene crews have been mopping up and cold trailing (making sure embers are cold to the touch) to ensure the fire stays within its perimeter.
On Tuesday, crews also strengthened containment lines along the northern and southern flanks and constructed handlines along uncontained areas on the southeast and southwest flanks, the agency said. Firefighters are also reportedly using a hose lay on the east side to secure the fire line and extinguish hot spots. Aerial resources have supported ground crews with water drops to cool hot spots and retardant to slow the fire’s spread.
“Similar firefighting efforts will continue today,” Wednesday morning’s news release stated. “Additionally, along S. Kanarra Mountain Road, chippers and masticators will be used to reduce fuels.”
High temperatures remain in the weather forecast for the upcoming week and beyond, incident meteorologist Derek Williams said during Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’re looking at a really hot summer here and across a lot of the West as well,” Williams said. “But in the meantime, the next seven days, we’re going to have chances of showers and thunderstorms. Hopefully, we’ll get some pretty good rainfall on the fire.”
Russ Babiak, Great Basin Interagency Incident Management Team’s fire behavior analyst, said a thunderstorm that dumped rain on the fire early Sunday evening provided some help.
“Sunday, we got some precipitation. Obviously, that really slowed the fire down,” he said. “And then we started to get some more effective fire suppression on the ground.”
Added Babiak: “With that forecast, with that rain coming in, we’re really expecting to see pretty diminished fire behavior over the next several days, which is really good news.”
Still, Babiak noted that Cedar City residents likely will continue to see smoke from the fire over the next few days.
“You certainly could see some smoldering and at night see some embers up there, might even see some open flame,” he said.
Iron County Emergency Manager George Colson said during Tuesday’s meeting that the evacuation orders given for surrounding areas remain in place for the time being.
“I don’t make those decisions in a vacuum,” Colson said. “I do that in conjunction with Sheriff (Ken) Carpenter, Lt. Humphries, local fire and the other fire (officials). Once they’ve told me that an area is threatened, then I make those recommendations to evacuate.”
Conversely, Colson said, when the decision is reached that a certain area is no longer in danger, “Then I make the recommendation to lift that evacuation and we plan accordingly and get that word out.”
Additionally, Iron County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Humphries said all road closures are still in effect but would be reassessed as the situation progresses.
“We’ll be talking further,” Humphries said during the meeting. “Like I said, we have opened up roads for people that need to get to livestock or something, for a particular reason. But it’s more important for me to keep the roads closed so they (firefighters) can do their job.”
Wednesday morning, Humphries spoke to Cedar City News via phone and said that if significant progress continues to be made on the fire, it’s possible that the fire’s management will shift back to local resources by this coming weekend.
“If that transition occurs, then we will open things back up,” he said.
As an added show of support, the developer of The Trails at Shurtz Canyon subdivision offered up the use of the land to the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands for the next 30 days to serve as a staging area for crucial cleanup operations.
“We are proud to support the efforts of the (division) and to contribute to the recovery of our beautiful area,” developer Nick Ripandelli said in a written statement. “Our community has a proud history of teamwork and resilience, and we are honored to assist in any way we can.”
Danon Hulet, area manager for Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, encouraged property owners to clear a defensible space around their residences.
“As a homeowner, if you can take the time to reduce the fuels around your home,” Hulet said during Tuesday’s meeting. “That helps these firefighters when they’re in there trying to suppress the fire. If they know they can get in there safely and protect your home, they will. If it’s not safe, they’re going to move on to where it is safe, and they are safe.”
Agreed McFarland: “I really want to echo the message of fire prevention that you heard tonight. It’s not too late to start cleaning up your fuels around your properties … if it’s not this fire, it might be another one.”
Tuesday’s meeting can be viewed in its entirety on Utah Fire Info’s Facebook page.
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