After several days of rain and cloud cover over the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest where the fire burns, crews estimate the fire is 37% complete.
Fire officials are measuring their progress in terms of “completion,” rather than containment.
Containment is the percentage of the wildfire’s perimeter that is secured. But when a fire is burning in dangerous terrain, containment isn’t necessarily the best way to share firefighters’ progress.
That’s according to Beulah Fire spokesperson Lisa Wilkolak.
“There’s no roads, it’s very difficult to access and it’s incredibly steep terrain,” she said. “Because of that, they changed their suppression strategy, and so this is when we moved to completion.”
More than 570 personnel have been assigned to the fire, and many are working to control burning near the right and left hands of the East Fork of the Bear River before northern winds blow into the area.
And some Heber Valley residents may have noticed smoke from an additional fire burning south of Provo Canyon. The Buckley Draw fire sparked Sunday evening between Provo and Spanish Fork.
Preliminary reports say the blaze has burned at least 400 acres of forest service land.
The fire is not currently threatening any structures but the Provo City Government is watching wind and weather conditions. The city asks residents to not fly drones in the area.
Fire crews are investigating the cause of both blazes.
