ST. GEORGE, Utah — St. George seems a long way from Texas, but it turns out people from Southern Utah are spelling relief for people in the Lone Star State.
"I think it's part of what makes us unique in Utah is when our neighbors are needing help, we're willing to send help," explained Karl Hunt with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Land.
That help is to literally put out fires which are burning in central Texas and are nearly contained, but state firefighters there are stretched thin, so crews from Utah have joined the effort with others from the Beehive State.
"They're going to Texas on a severity assignment," said Hunt, "which means Texas is expecting to have fire behavior and fire danger increase over the next couple of weeks. It's been hot and dry and they're expecting some winds that are gonna create red flag warnings."
Wildfires in San Saba and Upshur counties in central Texas have burned nearly 700 acres in the last week and are currently about 80% contained
Hunt says Utah crews are there to put out any new fires that might start.
"And they may not get an assignment, but they're there in case something happens," he said.
Engines out of Cedar City, Dameron Valley, Enterprise and Hurricane Valley were all sent to the southwest. Since it's been raining throughout Southern Utah, wildfire danger isn’t high right now. Even so, fire officials say Utahns won’t be left out to dry.
"We only send firefighters out of state if we know that we have our areas covered," shared Hunt. "We're not going to leave Utah in a bad spot and low on resources."
If all goes well, crews will be in Texas for two weeks on a 14-day assignment that can be extended to 21 days if there's a need.
