http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/543561....

I wouldn't normally start a new thread for a fire, but a TFer has likely been evacuated. Sadly I can't recall his TF name, but he lives in Eagle Mountain (Degaston?). If anyone can recall, please do post.

This fire was the 20th fire this season in Utah started by target shooters which I find to be a pretty amazing stat. Interestingly they will not be liable for the suppression costs. The were breaking no laws, tried to put it out, and called 911. However there is definitely an undertow here concerning all these fires caused by people with guns. Utah is very gun friendly, but people really need to be more cautious in tinder dry Red Flag conditions. It is making gun owners look like fools.

This fire started due west, across Utah Lake, from the old Geneva Steel plant in Provo. 97 degrees here today with winds 20 to 30 mph out of the south. The SLC valley is due north of the fire and is filled with smoke. We have seen ash falling and air quality is bad. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy and 100 degrees so they better get it knocked down tonight. Pretty scary for those people in Saratoga springs and Eagle Mountain.

Obsidian, I think.

Good memory Jota. I did a search and Obsidian is from Eagle Mountain. I think the whole town has been evacuated. I am going to watch the local news and see if I can get some more info. I sent him/her a PM.

Last year, with all the fires here, I had a BoB ready at all times. A fire started about 4 blocks from my house. Luckily it was extinguished in a couple of hours. Stay safe out there. That wind sounds really bad.

Relative Humidity in SLC is 7%. Winds are dying for the night and the fire looks like it is laying down. Hopefully they will get some good line around it tonight and nothing funky happens with the weather. This morning it got really windy at about 5 AM and things really took off. it is currently still 90 here.

Fire officials didn't do the state any favors when they named this one. The Dump Fire. Geez. And to top it off, they just announced there was a 5000 acre fire burning in central UT called the Grease Fire. Come on people!

We're still here.

It's pretty much right behind us (~2 miles). Other parts of the "Ranches" area are under evacuation orders, but our subdivision isn't. If the wind changes, we'll probably have to leave.

We're all packed up and ready to go with (<5 minutes needed).

The wind is currently blowing more or less west to east, but it usually changes direction twice a day. This morning when I ran (6 am), it was blowing towards the south-east, and I ran more or less about 3 miles away from the fire line. It was west of the Eagle Mountain city center at the time, but up about half way up along the ridge. Around 8-9 am it changed to blowing towards the north-east, and picked up a lot. That's when they lost control, and issued evacuation orders for the south-east subdivisions of the Ranches, and some parts of Saratoga Springs. Those locations are over on the east side of the ridge (Utah lake side).

We're located directly at the northern most point of the ridge were it melts into the valley floor, with many natural fire breaks around us.

Currently we can see it moving very slowly towards us, but up high still. Once it gets close to us, there are several fire breaks (plowed fields, etc) that will be hard to jump, but there are some sage/scrub/juniper islands that it can go thru to get to our subdivision.

We have two major outlets for evacuation, and we're unlikely to loose both (due to geography), so I'm not worried. Neither outlet will be useful to most other residents in the area, so traffic won't be a problem. We're just watching things right now.

Like I said, we're all packed and ready to go if needed.

My kids got some decent pictures of the front as the junipers light up. When one catches it has a near instant torch effect (it's very dry here right now). Within about 30 seconds, it's all flared away, and smoldering.

The wind currently favors us, but if it changes, smoke will be a problem, and we'll probably leave.

Glad to hear you are safe for now. I think I just heard on local news that it was 101 degrees with 2% RH today and tomorrow it is supposed to be 103. Wow. SLC averages 6 100+ degree days per year. It is looking like a hot one this year.

i was nearby in lehi shooting a wedding. it sure was crazy hot today - the sign as i was leaving around 6:30pm had 103°F. i tried my best to stay hydrated but came home slightly sunburned and parched

Glad you're safe. Be ready to go. The Little Bear fire in NM completely decimated my brother's property, and he was following it very closely, but these things move so fast. They barely got out with their lives.

If it doesn't bleed, it's not important.

Obsidian: Good luck and be safe.

It's died down mostly as far as I can tell. I ended up sitting outside Friday night to Saturday morning to watch the fire while the wife and kids got some sleep. The wind never changed from being in our favor, so we got passed over.

We're getting a little cloud cover this morning, and I hope some rain as well, but it's supposed to just be really hot.

Edit: Pics... My wife has a bunch. I'll see if I can get her to share them (post count exhausted).

Pics?