Another fire started on unincorporated land east of Kanab on the morning of Thursday, June 13. Local fire protection agencies were on scene within minutes of receiving the go-ahead from Color Country Dispatch. The fire spread quickly due to windy conditions, prompting a call for airborne fire retardant and additional response from various fire response agencies from local agencies like municipal fire, to federal agencies like the BLM and DWR.
Photos courtesy of Lydia Noel.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. The blaze started early in the day, and according to Kanab Fire Chief Brett Pierson, it took a few hours to extinguish sufficiently for damage control teams from organizations like Garkane to move in. The fire prompted power outages as Garkane teams addressed some potential damage to their power infrastructure; however, while the recent fire a few weeks ago prompted outage for most of the day, the fire on June 13 only required a little under two hours of power outage to address.
There was some concern with the windy conditions that some properties along the highway and up Johnson Canyon were at risk, the damage was limited to fences on property lines, some power poles and the wildlands in the area. No injuries or house damage was reported by responders.
Kane County Fire Marshall Spencer Rollo reports additional information incoming on fire prevention and safety, stating, “In high-risk seasons like this, the more the public gets informed the safer everyone will be … we’re going into fire restriction status soon, so we’ll need to get information out there.” As presented in Kane County Commission, Rollo has expanded his seasonal team, and has stated intent to present further information to citizens of the county regarding current fire safety practices, as well as information on fire agreements and the developing SSD’s that could change those agreements in the future.
Chief Pierson commented on the subject as well, stating, “Of course we’re responding … I heard the reports, I got in my truck and headed out with Engine 21 not far behind, but we do have some restrictions on how we approach these responses, who we speak to and how we report … we have agreements to work under, and it’d be good to help people understand how those agreements work.”
