Lightning ignites 2 fires Thursday afternoon

East Canyon grass fire in the top left and Crandall Canyon fire were both started by lighting on the afternoon of Thursday, August 17, 2023. Photo: Utah Fire Info

Update: The East Canyon Fire was contained on August 19 at 12:35 p.m.

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah – Powerful storms swept through parts of Summit County on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, bringing, lighting, wind, hail and heavy rain. Lightning from today’s storm cycle is responsible for starting two new fires.

Summit County Government shared that firefighters from North Summit Fire Service District and Summit County Wildland Fire responded to a lightning strike fire above Rockport Reservoir in Crandall Canyon this afternoon. The fire was contained after minimal growth.

Morgan County Fire & EMS reported that Morgan County Fire along with Mountain Green Fire Protection District were paged to a grass fire caused by lightning near East Canyon at 3:49 p.m. The fire is in a remote area with no road access.

Wildland helicopters were unable to fly due to weather, but Morgan County Fire was able to utilize a UTV to transport the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office close enough to fly their drone and visualize the fire.

The fire is slow moving and expected to slow down considerably with the incoming storm. No structures are threatened. Due to the frequent lightning strikes, inaccessible terrain, and low night-time visibility, incident command decided it is currently too dangerous to send wildland crews up the mountain tonight. The fire will be monitored overnight and crews will be sent up in the morning.

Yesterday’s lightning storm was accompanied by a power outage that impacted 7,279 customers in Hideout, Wasatch County, Park City and Summit County.

Hurricane Hilary is currently forecasted to track west of the Salt Lake City area, however, the influence of the storm will bring an elevated flash flood threat and the potential for strong storms through the weekend, particularly for southwest Utah.