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Show Work Resumes On Power Line After Blaze Near Circleville CIRCLEVILLE Work by Utah Power and Light Co., crews has resumed in the Birch Creek area some six miles west of Circleville, following a fire which roared over 100 acres of forestland, and causing power to be out in southwestern Utah for nearly 24 hours. The fire started from a Utah Power and Light maintenance truck working in the area of construction of a new power lines from Sigurd to Cedar City on July 5, and spread into the area of an existing power lines, burning three pole structures supporting the triple wire 230,000 volt line, causing transmission lines to short out. A UP&L spokesman said the fire generated gases that caused the line's circuit breakers to trip automatically auto-matically and cut off power. The fire then spread along the transmission transmis-sion corridor, burning the three support towers and causing the line to break. The incident began about 2:50 p.m. when two maintenance trucks were headed toward the area where a new power line is under construction construc-tion near the existing line. The driver of one of the one-ton trucks noticed smoke coming from the back of his truck, and when he got out to investigate, he saw flames coming from behind one of the rear wheels. George Cox, UP&L Telluride Region superintendent, said the employee attempted to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher, but was unsuccessful as the flames continued to shoot out from under the truck and spread into grass alongside the mountain road. The fire then got out of control and spread into pinions, ponderosa and quaken aspen trees as well as ground forage, eventually burning some 100 acres. Two bulldozers being used in construction were immediately pressed into service by power company com-pany employees and help was summoned from the Forest Service. A Fishlake National Forest fire dispatcher said some 56 men from Fishlake and Dixie forests and Bureau Bu-reau of Land Management were sent to the scene, along with three BLM fire engines, one Forest Service engine, two BLM bulldozers and one water tank truck. UP&L sent some 70 employees, employ-ees, mostly from the Richfield area, to assist in battling the blaze. Members of the Circleville Fire Dept., along with one of their engines, en-gines, were also sent to the scene. Aerial drops of fire retardent and water from helicopters also helped bring the blaze under control. The fire was considered contained con-tained Thursday about 2:20 p.m. A firebreak around the recently completed Birch Creek campground was established to prevent major damage to that facility. Power was out in Cedar City, Zion National Park and several small Iron County communities until about 5 p.m. when enough electricity was diverted over smaller lines to restore services there. However, St. George was without with-out power from UP&L until Thursday. To provide power to key facilities such as hospitals and public agencies in St. George, UP&L initiated "rolling blackouts" Wednesday evening in non-critical areas of Iron and Washington counties where power had already been restored. The rugged terrain where the damage occurred slowed repairs. UP&L crews had to haul 90-foot poles to the area near Birch Creek, attach crossarms and restring lines with heavy equipment before power could be restored. |
