The following information was included within a press release on Wednesday evening by Captain Kyle Ekker with the Emery County Sheriff’s Office concerning the Seeley Fire in Emery County.
At 5:48 a.m. on June 26, 2012, Emery County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch received a call advising that there was a fire at the south end of Candland Mountain and in the Forks of Huntington Creek. The caller advised that the fire could be seen best from the Miller’s Flat area. ECSO Dispatch forwarded all information to Moab Fire Center.
Moab Fire Center dispatched units to assess and fight the fire. Initial response by the Type 4 team included a helicopter with smoke jumpers. They were placed in by the fire by helicopter. The Incident Command Post was set up at the Rolfson Campground on June 26 by the Forest Service. The fire was identified as starting at these coordinates: N39*29.60 W111*10.40. The fire was in a heavily wooded area in the Left Fork. Early in the afternoon it went down the canyon to the Forks of Huntington on SR31. The fire went north up Candland Mountain and toward Stuart Guard Station. It jumped SR31 and went up into Nuck Woodward. The firefighters were able to save the structures at Stuart Guard Station. The fire spread NE towards Castle Valley Ridge, Star Point and onto Gentry Mountain into Carbon County. Report from the Forest Service Incident Command Post this morning is that approximately 4000 acres have been burned. At the time of this press release, State Fire officials stated that acreage burned could be around 10,000.
Emery County Sheriff’s Office, UHP and UDOT shut down SR31 at Crandall Canyon Mine intersection which is MP 33, and also at the Emery/Sanpete County line at MP8 on SR31. People were evacuated from the Scad Valley area, the top of Huntington Canyon and around Electric Lake. Evacuations continue today with voluntary evacuation of residents in Trail Canyon. Rhino Mine is on alert and can evacuate within an hour if the fire threatens the mine property. People have been very cooperative when asked to evacuate.
Today it was learned that on Monday, citizens traveling through the Left Forks of Huntington Creek reported that they saw a lightening strike about 2:20 p.m. during a small thunderstorm.
Camp trailers have been removed from the area. The fire is still a threat to some cabins at the end of Candland Mountain and around Miller’s Flat. On Wednesday morning, the fire sent ashes down the canyon starting a small fire near the Huntington Power Plant, which has been extinguished. The fire is still a threat to Huntington Power Plant and Deer Creek Mine. Numerous power transmission lines are also being threatened.
The fire is still burning on the ridges around Stuart Guard Station and into Carbon County with very little containment, if any, at the time of this press release.
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