Rain over Peavine and Poison Canyon Fires 8_1

BLANDING, Utah: August 1 –Rain fell yesterday over the Peavine Canyon and Poison Canyon Fire with increasing monsoon moisture. Fire behavior will be much reduced. A RAWS (Remote Automated Weather System) station located near the Poison Canyon Fire recorded 0.39 inches of rain yesterday while a RAWS station located at Kane Gulch BLM station recorded 0.12 inches of rain. Kane Gulch is about 16 miles south of the Peavine Canyon Fire.

The Peavine Canyon Fire grew to 3904 acres on Wednesday, while fire crews continued using a planned confinement strategy. Average flames lengths are 1-2 feet and the fire burned well before the rain moved in, consuming litter and undergrowth. The fire is now 10 percent contained.

The Poison Canyon Fire is now 1105 acres contained within previously established boundaries, and 41 people assigned. As cooler humid air moves in, conditions are expected to decrease fire activity on both fires. Seventy-eight people are assigned to the Poison Canyon fire.

Monticello District Ranger Michael Diem explains, “A confinement strategy using roads, trails, and landscape features is an effective way to suppress fires. It provides reduced safety risk to firefighters, reduces the risk of larger more devastating wildfires, and yet ensures benefits to wildlife, watershed health, soils, healthy forests and vegetation.”

The area of the fires has typically experienced low flame lengths that consumed thick undergrowth, but did not involve the crowns of most trees. Lightning-caused fires would historically burn every 10-15 years, clearing debris and renewing nutrients in the soil, allowing for new growth especially in Quaking Aspen and Ponderosa Pine forests. These fires are being carefully managed, and will help restore the landscape to a more natural state, protecting the wilderness into the future. Managers consider values at risk such as homes and campgrounds, fuel and fire weather conditions, and availability of fire resources.

Closures, maps and more information are available on the Manti-La Sal National Forest website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/mantilasal/. The Peavine Canyon Fire is located 22 miles west of Blanding, UT and the Poison Canyon Fire is located approximately 23 miles west of Monticello, UT.
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