Fire crews get more help

NEPHI — More resources are arriving to battle the 21,251-acre Salt Creek fire burning in central Utah.

"The resources are trickling in," said Tom Speaks, deputy incident commander for the Southern Area Incident Management Team.

Higher humidity today and thunderstorms moving over central Utah are in firefighters' favor, Speaks said. They have allowed fire crews to protect the the community of Fountain Green. The wildfire has burned within two miles of the Sanpete County town.

Today, firefighters will use bulldozers to create fire lines and then begin burnout operations, where they set their own fires in an attempt to burn out the dry grasses and keep the fire from spreading.

This morning, state Route 132 from Nephi to Fountain Green reopened. A line of cars gathered at the mouth of Nephi Canyon just before the road opened.

"We've had to make trips through Gunnison. That's an extra hour and a half," said Ron Rosevear, who lives in Nephi and owns property near fire-threatened Indianola.

The Utah Highway Patrol said the road may close again should fire conditions worsen. Troopers are not allowing motorists to stop alongside the road to view the fire damage.

Property owners in the subdivisions of Holiday Oaks, Oaker Hills, Indian Ridge and Elk Ridge remain evacuated.

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