Fire officials report the 361-acre Dikker Hill fire is 95% contained as of 4:15 p.m. Saturday. Containment refers to how much of the fire’s perimeter is secure, not how much of the fire's 361 acres is still burning.
Mike Eriksson from the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands said the rain has helped.
“Today was a really great day. They got a lot of rain last night, and we had some more wetting rain today, which is always good, especially on a fire like this,” he said.
Wetting rain means there was at least a tenth of an inch of rain able to moisten all layers of vegetation.
Since the crews are making positive progress on the fire, Eriksson said it has decreased in severity. The fire is now classified as a Type 4 fire instead of Type 3. Type 3 fires require state and federal resources while Type 4 can be fought with local resources.
Four helicopters, two hand crews, three bulldozers and 10 engines were called in after the fire was first reported just after 4 p.m. on July 24. Eriksson said most of those resources are no longer needed.
Crews from the Salt Lake area and a statewide task force helped significantly increase containment of the fire Saturday.
“It's just been these crews trying to mop up the edges, and it's looking really good,” Eriksson said.
Eriksson said those crews may leave Sunday as the fire will likely be completely contained by then. The fire will then move to the lowest severity of Type 5 and local crews will monitor the fire’s status.
More information on how the human-caused fire was sparked is expected to be released in the next few days.
