SOUTHERN UTAH – After a week of continued firefighting efforts, the Reserve and Shivwits fires are each 100 percent contained.
The Reserve Fire
Nick Howell, of the Bureau of Land Management, said firefighters have been working to meet full-containment objectives Saturday. The fire has remained at 3,067 acres since Thursday, and is expected to reach 100 percent contaiment by 8 p.m. Current fire behavior is minimal with isolated hot spots currently being extinguished. Some resources assigned to the fire are being released to their home units. Two hand crews and two fire engines will remain on scene as crews continue with mop-up operations.
The fire area is located north of St. George near the Mesa Rim Trail, and was lightning-caused on Aug. 13.
For the time being, access to the Mesa Rim and Black Gulch trails remains closed.
The Shivwits Fire
Mike Melton of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and Public Lands, said that as of 6:30 p.m., Saturday, the 5,100-acre Shivwits Fire has been 100 percent contained. A fire engine will patrol and monitor the fire area over the next few days as a precaution, though no fire activity has been observed today.
The contained fire area is located on West Mountain, six miles northwest of Ivins. The fire was triggered by lightning on Aug. 12.
No structures were lost to the fire, and no road closures remain in effect.
A note on containment
Though the fires are contained, that is, not expanding beyond a secured fire line established by fire crews, the fires within the containment areas are still active to some extent. As noted above, fire crews will continue to monitor and extinguish any lingering remnants of these fires over the next few days.
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