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Show Firefighters contain 'canyon Maze ' - . . .r - v. :....- " , ;j . V v - ... j. .... V . -i' ; ' .: . ,t ' . . . - ? . "'...., . j - !, . ' . .T trv rts-" ...,, ..." vt""' "' :'.-'.., - '"' f --" - J( J, , ' - - 1V. ;-j - - , , . . '.- - . . - . - 1 ' - r . .... . . . -- . -- ' - . $ ' ' 'A 5 . ... ' I r " ' ' " t.t s , I ; ..-.yim-wum - I .e fire in American Fork Can-I Can-I 'scontainedbylastWednes-! 'scontainedbylastWednes-! evening, according to a spokesman spokes-man for the Uinta National For" "forest spokesperson Loyal Clark :ifire fighters were able to build X line containing the fire after ilicopter dropped water on the ' ftehelicopter had been used to .jke water drops on the fire L jghout Wednesday, dampen-, dampen-, the fire and helping bring it -V control. "Located in the cliffs near the jith of American Fork Canyon, j, fighters had a hard time get-:jto get-:jto the fire because of the steep-ss steep-ss of area. Ms. Clark said about the fire aj spread over about 20 acres of pod by Wednesday, and was erring in pinon, juniper and coni-t coni-t Twenty fire fighters from San ta National Forest in Colorado Hon the scene Wednesday. They slated a 24 person crew had been lie fire earlier. 1'edon t want to lose any more i;lershed acres than we have to," dDon Nebeker, Uinta National ":rest supervisor, as he viewed the ii fighting efforts. Ms. Clark said crews were at tempting to keep the fire from jumping a mudslide that came off the mountain in the same general area last year. She said the helicopter water drops were really helping crews, who were hampered by the steep terrain of the area. The helicopter began making almost continuous drops throughout through-out most of the day Wednesday. Water for the chopper was being pumped out of American Fork River into Pleasant Grove Fire Department's Depart-ment's tanker truck. The tanker then went to a flat area in the foothills and pumped the water into a large tank. The helicopter pilot dipped his bucket into the tank in order to fill it. Don Rudert, a pilot with Classic Helicopters, said about 40 gallons were dropped at a time. Heat, wind, and elevation helped determine how much could be carried car-ried in the 75-gallon capacity bucket. He quipped it took about 3 minutes min-utes to go into the fire and 30 seconds sec-onds to come back a lot shorter time than the 2 12 hours it took fire crews to walk into the blaze. "It's located on an incredibly steep ridge," Rudert said. In making the water drops, Rudert said you have to be careful so you aren't too high that the water doesn't do any good. If you are too low, however, the rotor can spread the fire. The helicopter crew had beert back from the fires in Salmon, Idaho only three or four days when they were called to the American Fork Canyon fire. Visitors to American Fork Canyon Can-yon and Timpanogos Cave National Monument were inconvenienced Wednesday as Highway 92 was closed most of the day as a safety measure during helicopter use. Vehicles were let through periodically peri-odically as the helicopter set down for refueling and pilot break. The highway was opened about 4 p.m. Ms. Clark said the fire was started Monday afternoon about 4 p.m. by a lightning strike. Crews were on the scene that evening but were unable to contain the blaze. Smoke from the blaze attracted sight seers to American Fork Canyon Can-yon and adjacent roads as individuals indi-viduals attempted to see the source of the fire. A Pleasant Grove fireman overseeing over-seeing the filling of the tanker was amazed when one motorist said, when told the fire had been started by lightning, said it wasn't possible for lightning to start a fire. "He hasn't seen many fires," the longtime fire fighter said. Helicopter lifts bucket of water out of holding tank before carrying it to the fire in American Fork Canyon last week. |