Utah Wildfire Destroys Dozens of Homes, Structures

Lightning-sparked wildfire forces hundreds of evacuations

A lightning-sparked wildfire has destroyed at least a dozen homes and 15 other structures, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from the nearby mountain resort town of Park City, Utah.

At least 250 homes were still “imminently threatened,” said a fire management officer.

“In west-central Utah’s Skull Valley, more than 20 structures were threatened by the Patch Springs Fire that covered some 16 square miles. No evacuations had been ordered, though the fire remained about two miles from the town of Terra and homes on the Goshute Indian Reservation,” said a report.

The lightning-sparked State Fire, Utah’s largest fire, has devoured more than 22,000 acres, jumping at least 6 miles across the border into Idaho, and getting uncomfortably close to the town of Samaria.

About 40 major fires are currently burning across the West. Wildfires are devouring millions of acres in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and Alaska.