Growing fire delays reopening of road in Bryce Canyon

BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK — The Bridge Fire has grown another 400 acres, delaying plans to reopen a road.

The fire initially grew early last week, leading to an emergency evacuation of a two-mile portion of the main road in Bryce Canyon National Park. David Eaker of the National Park Service said the fire had passed through the park and the road was being prepared to be reopened. Initially, officials hoped to open the road Saturday but were delayed by fires that continued to burn near it.

"We're working along the road to cut down snags that we were afraid might fall and making sure there's no major fires burning close to the road," he said.

Though 3,300 total acres have been affected to this point, Eaker said it is important to remember that the level of burn is different and rarely as dramatic as it sounds.

"Only a small portion of that is on fire," Eaker said. "There are some (areas) where everything is destroyed, but most everything else is underneath, it's just brush."

There are 296 firefighters now working to further contain the fire, which is about 25 percent contained at this point. Eaker said that percentage could easily change.

"It can go from 10 to 50 in a day," he said. "Generally, full containment is when there's some kind of control around the whole fire or the fire has gone out or run into a barrier."

Cloudy skies and few winds initially aided the firefighters in their efforts to curb the fire's spread, but many of the fires are still growing. The Horse Fire in Zion National Park also grew over the weekend from 600 acres to 750. It is still about 25 percent contained.

Despite growing in size, these fires are not threatening any major residential areas, and no new closures have been announced at this time.

— Emiley Morgan