Brian Head Fire explodes overnight as winds fan flames to nearly 50,000 acres

Approximately 1,500 people — including seven residents asked to leave the Bear Valley area overnight as a precaution — remained evacuated as of Tuesday morning.

"We're continuing to work with the sheriff's office to evaluate the needs of the evacuees and to see what we can do to get those folks back to their homes," Briggs said.

Brian Head officials are looking at the fire "day by day" to determine when evacuated residents will be permitted to return home, said Town Manager Bret Howser. There are "still some potential threats" of fire danger where the blaze could circle back into the town or cut off access to Highway 148, he said.

Fire officials "reevaluate" the situation every evening, Howser said, after they've seen how firefighting efforts have gone. The decision to lift the evacuation will "most likely be made at the end of a day for the next day," he said, and would be posted to the Brain Head Town Facebook page.

In anticipation of returning Brian Head residents to their homes, fire officials said Tuesday that the Department of Transportation and local utility companies were working in Parowan Canyon, where they were assessing damage and making infrastructure repairs.

Meanwhile, the American Red Cross continued to provide shelter and other aid to those evacuees at Panguitch High School and nearby Parowan.

Most of the fire's latest spread occurred on its northern flank, as winds up to 30 mph propelled flames into parched old growth conifer, beetle-killed timber, sagebrush and grass. Flames were racing along the crowns of tree tops sending wind-blown embers up to half a mile away.

On Monday, Bureau of Land Management and Dixie National Forest officials said the blaze was 10 percent contained. The overnight surge dropped estimated containment on Tuesday to 9 percent, but the target date for completely hemming in the flames remained July 15.

Fire managers expected little help from nature on Tuesday. Indeed, a "Red Flag" wildfire danger warning remained in effect through Wednesday from Logan south through Ogden, Salt Lake City, Provo, Manti, Cedar City, St. George and throughout Zion National Park and the Grand Staircase-Escalante regions. The warning also extended into the Uintas of eastern Utah and southeastern Utah's Green River, Monticello and Bluff areas.

Daytime temperatures in the upper-80s were expected to continue through the midweek in Iron County, with highs elsewhere in the state ranging from northern Utah's low-90s to well over 100 degrees in southwestern Utah.

Windy weather also was forecast throughout the state, with gusts up to 30 mph along the Brian Head fire lines expected.

Firefighters worked Tuesday to stem both further growth on the northern perimeter of the blaze and to shore up and extend lines in the Panguitch and Dry lakes and Blue Springs areas.

Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

Twitter: @remims

Tribune reporter Mariah Noble contributed to this story.