300,000 acres ablaze in central Utah

SULPHURDALE, Beaver County — Smoke and dirt are smudged on the clothing of the gang of 21 — certain proof they were near a fire Sunday afternoon.

But their attempts to start a fire weren't exactly successful: They got caught.

Not by police, mind you, but by wind, which escorted flames from another fire in their direction.

The gang is actually a crew of professional firefighters — mostly younger than 30 — who are normally based at Fishlake National Forest.

Since Sunday afternoon, they have monitored land around Sulphurdale

in nearly 100-degree temperatures and on just a wink of sleep, trying to keep the state's largest wildfire in history at bay.

By Monday night the wildfire, known as the Milford Flat fire, amassed 311,102 acres.

Ten percent of the fire was contained on the north and west flanks, said Vince Mazzier, a fire information officer from the Great Basin Type 1 National Incident Management Team, which took over the firefighting efforts Monday morning.

The fire spans about 80 miles from Beaver in the south to Fillmore in the north, and 20 miles from I-15 in the east to Milford in the west.

By Monday night, 361 firefighters and personnel were fighting the blaze, which was sparked by lightning east of Milford on Friday. More crews were en route to the fire.

The 21-person Fishlake crew is led by Eddie Taylor. By Sunday afternoon, the Milford Flat fire had jumped over I-15 in nearby Cove Fort. So, with a bulldozer, Taylor's crew decided to start a backfire near the freeway and Sulphurdale.

The theory was that if the land was charred, the Milford Flat fire would stop before having an opportunity to jump the freeway again.

Shortly after the Fishlake crew ignited the controlled blaze, the Milford Flat fire came roaring down the Mineral Mountains into the controlled fire's direction.

"We knew it was coming down, but we didn't think it would be so fast," Taylor said.

The Fishlake crew jumped into action, trying to keep the Milford Flat fire behind about a half-mile of service road. The fire jumped the service road and a bulldozer-created fire line. It became too hot for firefighters to safely handle, and an air tanker was called to douse flames with retardant before it approached I-15.