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Wildfire burning about 2,600 acres in Box Elder County

Posted at 8:59 PM, Jul 20, 2013
and last updated 2013-07-21 23:36:15-04

BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah -- Crews are responding to a wildfire that has burned an estimated 2,600 acres in Northwest Box Elder County.

Officials said the cause of the Playground Fire is under investigation, but they said they believe it was caused by lightning. As of Sunday it was about 30 percent contained. Nick Hillman, incident commander type III trainee, said they were able to establish more containment after the winds died down.

"Well, there's ten and a half miles of fire perimeter," he said. "It looks calm right now, but we got to get folks on the ground and mop up any heat that's near the line or could threaten our containment."

Hillman said this is the largest fire so far this year in Northern Utah, and the state has fared better than expected this summer when it comes to fires.

"The predictive services for Utah were expecting large fire growth for the Northern Utah area, and some of the moisture that has been coming through has helped us out," he said.

A private cabin is threatened, but authorities said it wasn't clear if the dwelling is a primary residence. There a lot of cattle and livestock in the area. Officials said about 100 firefighters were working to extinguish the flames.

FOX 13 News will have more information as it becomes available.