A weekend wildfire ignited by a lightning strike was fully contained by Summit County firefighters on Saturday afternoon.
Summit County Fire Warden Bryce Boyer suspected the smoldering started after a storm last week, and sat until the right conditions, such as wind and heightened danger, led the brush fire to erupt before 6 p.m. on Friday.
North Summit Fire Service District firefighters were the first to respond, but Boyer was paged out to collaborate when crews experienced access issues. They agreed to call in a federally-operated helicopter to help extinguish the blaze because of the terrain.
The fire, which was west of Interstate 80 near Coalville and Echo Reservoir, was estimated to be around 6 acres at the time. No structures were threatened and no evacuations were ordered.
While the chopper stopped the flames from spreading, North Summit firefighters and volunteers with the county’s new Wildland Fire Unit moved in closer to the hillside burn area on utility task vehicles to battle the blaze, Boyer said.
The Summit County Public Works Department also assisted. Crews used a bulldozer to build an access road with landowner permission, which helped shuttle in resources to the area.
Firefighters continued to work on the Matt’s Canyon Fire until Friday evening. By 10 p.m., it was 60% contained.
The effort continued into Saturday. The Wildland Fire Unit tackled the blaze on side-by-sides with a water tank while crews from North Summit as well as the South Summit Fire District also worked on dousing the flames and conducting mop-ups of the burn area.
Boyer said they located several hot spots in the juniper trees, which is primarily what burned. The fire hopped from tree to tree as there wasn’t much vegetation or grass on the ground. Windy conditions also played a role.
The blaze was fully contained around noon on Saturday. The damage was just under 2 acres; less than what was originally estimated.
The North Summit and South Summit fire departments as well as the county’s Wildland Unit continued to monitor the area for flare-ups over the weekend.
If the Matt’s Canyon Fire had occurred last summer, Boyer said it might have been worse. However, it should serve as a warning that fire season is here and fuel sources are beginning to catch.
“We’re starting to get to that dry point. If we’re not careful, we could start to see a lot larger burns,” Boyer said.
Another storm on Monday evening led to a lighting strike around 8:45 p.m. on Porcupine Loop in Tollgate Canyon, resulting in a small fire. Park City Fire and North Summit Fire contained the blaze to .25 acres. There were several other lighting strikes in the area throughout the night, according to Park City Fire.
Fire danger in the county was increased from low to moderate on July 18 due to conditions becoming hotter and drier. There were no active fires in the county at the time.
The Matt’s Canyon Fire is the first large burn to occur in Summit County during the 2023 fire season, which usually peaks in late July or August — though officials are expecting a later time frame this year.
North Summit firefighters in May responded to a 5-acre brush fire near Henefer. There have only been a handful of other, small fires since January.