New fire burning in Utah

[Admin]

I should be able to just keep re-using that subject over and over again throughout this summer.

The newest fire in the state, the Quail Fire, just broke out this afternoon in Alpine. This one's not in a good place -- see that ridge on the left of the smoke plume? That's the ridgeline that forms the south side of Little Cottonwood Canyon, and the wind is driving the fire north and east.

(photo via KSL)

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I just took this shot from my front yard showing the smoke billowing above Mt. Olympus like a thunderstorm.

From my front yard

About halfway between our house and the fire are the houses of Marc_C and Skidog. None of us are at any risk from this blaze, but I live about half a block from a mountainside covered in the same type of dry brush that's burning in Alpine. Hopefully no idiots light bottle rockets over here tomorrow night.

[Admin]

You can really see it on Snowbird's webcams of the Cirque:

Snowbird webcam at the time I'm posting this

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and Gad Valley:

Snowbird webcam at the time I'm posting this

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and Hidden Peak:

Snowbird webcam at the time I'm posting this

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Snowbird webcam at the time I'm posting this

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My friend Sarah reports ash falling from the sky in Park City. She took this shot:

Smoke from the Quail Fire over Park City (photo: Sarah Langridge)

[Marc_C]

From one of our 3rd floor windows in our office in South Jordan:



Little Cottonwood Canyon is the obvious dip in the ridgeline on the left side of the photo.

[EMSC]

Been a slightly dry spring/summer this year ... We're supposed to go into monsoon over this way in Colo for a bit this weekend/next week which will provide some relief, even if temporary.

At least we've already broken below the >100F temps the last few days. For those not living in the 'desert' west, we've had fun things like air temp in the shade of 105F in Denver and a dew point at the same time of 3F (aka 2% humidity) for days on end in June and early July. At this point you could practically sneeze wrong and have the water droplets focus the sun into starting a fire. Some crazy stuff going on. Of course, everyone got to see what happened in Colo Springs.

[Admin]

Monsoon moisture made it here today. Looks like just for one day, though. Overcast with a light rain falling, the first measurable precipitation we've received since May. 0.12 inches in my rain gauge thus far.

[Marc_C]

At this point you could practically sneeze wrong and have the water droplets focus the sun into starting a fire. Some crazy stuff going on. Of course, everyone got to see what happened in Colo Springs.

I'm convinced that at this point a burrito fart could start a fire. We still have 7 major fires in UT, the largest currently at 105K acres. Although some of the smaller fires are "only" 3K acres, like the Quail fire in Alpine, some 350 homes are still threatened and under mandatory evac.

What a lot of people elsewhere don't realize is how much of a mess is left behind. Even if a house is spared from fire and heat damage, every square inch of the interior plus all the contents need a thorough cleaning as a fine layer of soot covers everything inside, including walls and ceilings. One of my coworkers who was evacuated last week in the Rosecrest Fire has an undamaged house, but is facing a month of cleanup, which will cost around $25K.