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Timely rainstorm helps crews get upper hand on fire near Deer Creek Reservoir

Posted at 9:52 PM, Jul 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-11 23:52:11-04

WASATCH COUNTY, Utah -- A wildfire on the banks of Deer Creek Reservoir was doused by a sudden burst of rain Wednesday afternoon.

“This fire grew really quickly,” Jason Curry with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands said.

The fire was reported around noon and by 3:30 p.m. it had grown to 250 acres with just 5 percent containment.

Air resources were diverted from the Dollar Ridge Fire to help ground crews slow the blaze down.

“We have three helicopters, the super scoopers dipping out of Deer Creek Reservoir and dumping on the fire as well as a very large air tanker, the DC10,” said Curry.

For boaters on the reservoir, it meant the end of their day.

“They told us to come get off because they were bringing in planes,” McKay Kimball said. His group had been in a boat on the reservoir before being asked to leave.

At 4:00 p.m., with 40 firefighters on the ground and more in the air overhead, a thunderstorm moved over the top of the fire, dropping some torrential rain.

“We really lucked out when that cloud moved in an dumped some rain on this fire," said Leann Fox with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Land. "It was a lot of rain. My pants were soaked right through, I only stood out in it a few minutes."

After the storm, a flyover of the fire was listed at 381 acres and 10 percent containment.

“That rainfall suppressed a good chunk of the fire, but as you can see there’s still some hot spots up there and there’s still some heat," Fox said.  "I did a flyover just recently and you could see the heat coming off that fire."