Fire spreads to Bryce Canyon

A fast-moving fire spread into Bryce Canyon National Park, leading to the evacuation of 50 vehicles on a little-used side road Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

"That was quite an operation," said Dixie National Forest spokeswoman Andi Falsetto. "Apparently, they had to open up a barely-used forest road to take some people out. It was a big deal."

The Bridge Fire, which has been burning in Bryce Canyon National Park and Dixie National Forest, already had grown by more than 1,000 acres to a total of 1,500 acres. Tuesday afternoon, fueled by 30 mph winds, it "moved very fast" toward the southern portion of the park's main road, said Bryce Canyon National Park's chief of interpretation, Dan Ng. Park authorities were forced to evacuate 50 vehicles and close a two-mile stretch of the main road, from Rainbow Point to the turnoff for Inspiration Point.

"The vehicles were led to Rainbow Point on a dirt road called Yovimpa Road," Ng said. "Another 10 that couldn't travel on the dirt road were evacuated on the main road once it was safe enough."

National Park Service spokesman David Eaker said the parks have an emergency evacuation plan they implement in emergency situations such as these.

"What they would do is, at the point where the closure begins, they close the gate and position someone there," Eaker said. "Then they send a number of people in to sweep the area to make sure everyone is out and escort people out when it's safe."

Despite the unexpected expansion of the fire, authorities are saying it is still under control and within its prescribed "resource benefit boundaries." Officials said the former policy of full-fire suppression often leads to an excess of burnable fuels that, in this instance, lined some of the park's roads. Fires such as these will burn those fuels and prevent future fires, Ng said.

Eaker said officials anticipate that the portion of the road will be closed for only a couple of days. He said remaining concerns are the fire, which continues to burn, and burned trees that could fall on vehicles and block roadways.

The evacuation was just one demonstration of the effect strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures can have on wildfires. This combination also caused the Horse Valley Fire to grow to 2,900 acres Tuesday. Dixie National Forest's Kenton Call said the fire was fueled by some "erratic winds out of the south" but is now 60 percent contained.

"The winds made the firefighting a little more challenging, but the firefighters still made good progress," Call said.

The number of firefighters working the fire increased from about 200 to 300. Call said more crews, including the Lone Peak Hot Shot Crew of Draper, were brought in to help contain the fire.