"They had hard rains. It was hard on the roads the vehicles travel on. It makes it difficult for engines and heavy equipment to travel on," said fire information officer Erin Darboven.

Ranch hands evacuated from the area have been allowed to return to work, officials said in a press release. By late Thursday, Winecup suppression efforts had reached $3.6 million.

Inside Zion National Park, crews have reached 98 percent containment in the Dakota Hills Complex of fires. All evacuations have been lifted, and crews this week are working on dousing hot spots in the 9,156-acre blaze.

Many of the wildland fire crews being demobilized in Utah will head to Montana and other areas of the country where fires are raging.

While storms in recent days have helped fire efforts in the West, nationally, 111 fires affecting 3.25 million acres continue to burn.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials announced Thursday that the agency will refund up to 75 percent of local firefighting costs for six of the fires that have ravaged the country so far this year.

Three of the fires receiving federal aid are in Utah, while one is in Colorado and two are in South Dakota.

---

Contributing: Ben Winslow

E-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com; bwinslow@desnews.com