ALPINE, Utah -- A brush fire is burning on a mountainside east of Alpine, and firefighters say the blaze was started by people who were target shooting.
The U.S. Forest Service says the Water Tower Fire is burning uphill. Fox 13 News first heard report of the fire around 8 p.m., and by 10 p.m. crews at the scene estimated the size of the blaze at 70 to 80 acres.
Battalion Chief Danny Campbell with the Lone Peak Fire District said as of about 9:20 p.m. there are no injuries and no structures are threatened. He said there are no evacuations at this point, but said “in the next hour or so that could change.”
Campbell said: “There’s nothing immediately threatened right now, but the way the fire is going it’s going to be blowing into a couple of subdivisions, possibly.”
The fire is believed to be human caused.
“Three individuals were target shooting, which caused the fire," Campbell said. "It spread rapidly up the mountain, as you can see.”
Campbell said they are asking people to stay away from the fire to allow crews to access and fight the fire. He said only those who need to access their homes should travel into the Alpine area.
"Alpine does not have a lot of through roads, our roads are very congested with people wanting to see the fire, which is it making it difficult to get our apparatus up here," Campbell said.
Fox 13 News has reached out to authorities for more information, and we'll update this story as more details emerge.
