Bryce Canyon Road reopens as fire growth slows

BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK — The threat posed by the Bridge fire in Bryce Canyon National Park is mostly gone, officials said Monday.

The closed portion of the main road to the park has now been opened and nearly all of the fire in the park has been contained.

Though the fire has grown to over 3,500 acres, the 2-mile portion of the park's main road that was evacuated last week reopened about 1 p.m. Sunday, said Dan Ng, chief of interpretation at Bryce Canyon National Park.

"The park road is open, but we're still telling visitors to drive carefully and watch out for fire crews," Ng said. "The fire within the park is almost all contained and the rest the fire service is managing for resource benefit."

Officially, the fire is considered 60 percent contained, but firefighters have enough control that they are "demobilizing as we speak and being dispatched to other fires." Ng said they were aided in their efforts by cool temperatures and light rain.

The Horse Valley fire near Panguitch Lake that had grown to 2,900 acres is also under control. It is now classified as 100 percent contained.

In Zion National Park, the Horse fire continues to burn and move to the south, leading the National Park Service to close an additional stretch of the West Rim Trail. The 2-mile portion extends the closure to Telephone Canyon Trail from Lava Point. Officials said they are also closing Imlay Canyon.

National Park Service spokesman David Eaker said these closures are mostly precautionary.

"They're not going to affect a lot of things," he said. "The fire just keeps moving south and we're trying to stay ahead of it for the visitors' safety."

— Emiley Morgan