VIDEO: Fire crews from several western states are in Southern Utah working to extinguish the Forsyth and France Canyon wildfires. When local crews get overwhelmed dealing with wildfires, they call the Great Basin Coordination Center, which covers Nevada, Utah, and most of Idaho. That agency decides where the fire resources from this region are going. However, officials said crews are already very busy, and they expect things to worsen soon. The Lone Peak Hotshots, based out of Salt Lake City, just got back from working on three different fires: the Sterling and Forsyth fires in Utah and the Burnt Canyon Fire in Nevada. Now, theyโve been ordered to get some rest since theyโll be deployed to more fires soon.
โRight now, for our 20โperson hand crews, weโve got anywhere from about 110 to 120 crews assigned, nationally. That includes resources across the southwest [and] southern Utah,” Sean Peterson with the National Interagency Fire Center said. According to Peterson, theyโre at what they would consider โnormalโ for this time of year. However, he also said โnormalโ is still very busy. Some of Utahโs fire crews have been deployed to Nevada, Wyoming, and even Canada. โWhen we get a request for any type of resource here, specifically some of the tactical resources like hand crews, hotshot crews, smoke jumpers, and air tankers in the order that comes in to us, they will determine the values at risk for that incident,โ Peterson said.
