The Tank Hollow Fire was a fire that burned in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The fire was started by a lightning strike on August 11, 2017. Since then, it burned a total of . The fire threatened homes along

US Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

. It was contained on December 5, 2017.

Events

August

The Tank Hollow Fire was first reported on August 11, 2017 at 9:45 AM at Sheep Creek in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, approximately 19 miles east of Spanish Fork,

. The fire was started by a

lightning strike A lightning strike or lightning bolt is a lightning event in which an electric discharge takes place between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning ...

and was fueled by timber, grass, and brush, including juniper, sage, mixed conifer, and

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

. By August 27, the fire had burned and was 40 percent contained. Numerous campgrounds were closed, as well as five

forest service road Forest Highways or Forest Routes are a category of roads within United States National Forests. They are built to connect the national forests to the existing state highway systems, and to provide improved access to recreational and logging area ...

s. The next day, the fire expanded to the Tie Fork drainage and 220 fire personnel were fighting the fire. On August 29, the fire had grown to and its containment was lowered to 20 percent.

Dozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, though s ...

lines were created from Corral Canyon to Tie Fork Rd. to keep the fire from expanding north towards transmission lines and east beyond Tie Fork Rd. The fire creeped back into Sheep Creek and moved south east towards

, threatening homes. Helicopters were bringing water from

Strawberry Reservoir Strawberry Reservoir is a large reservoir in the U.S. state of Utah, located on the Strawberry River. It is Utah's most popular fishery, receiving over 1.5 million angling hours annually and is part of the Blue Ribbon Fisheries program. Game fis ...

, but were stopped as temporary water resources were created in the fire area, reducing turnaround time. Fire activity increased due to a spot fire near Soberville Hollow which then expanded into Baker Canyon. Heavy winds forced fire crews to leave Corral Canyon due to safety reasons. On August 30, crews continued to help keep the fire from Tie Fork Rd., using the road itself, natural barriers and hand digging. Cloud cover helped slow the growth of the fire. Upper Tie Fork Single Track trail was closed.

September

By September 1, the fire was 40% contained at . Cooler and wet weather helped dampen the fire, creating smoldering in many areas. The fire did continue to move northeast in Soberville and Baker Canyons. Dozers were used to create fire lines and a contingency plan was created to protect areas east of Tie Fork. The fire grew, moving down into Baker Canyon, burning debris and "improving overall forest health," according to the

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

. The containment line was widened by controlled burning. A

Temporary Flight Restriction The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). A wide var ...

was put in place earlier during the fire and during late August and early September, there were six airspace intrusions due to uncleared pilots flying into the area. The fire had grown to by September 4. The fire grew to over by the morning of September 6. Crews made major progress at containment using low intensity backing fire to control the main fire, aided by helicopters, hand crews and hotshot crews. Letting the fire burn in contained areas burned away hazardous fuels and in the long term would improve forest health. By September 8, the fire was over 50% contained and had grown to . By September 15, the forest incident commanders reported being "please with the fire effects," and that the anticipate that the fire "will improve Forest health and aspen regeneration which will develop better habitat for wildlife." Unicorn Campground and a number of roads reopened, with select roads and trails remaining closed do the potential for mudslides or trees that can fall down.

December

The fire was contained on December 5, 2017.

References

External links

* {{2017 American wildfires 2017 wildfires in the United States Wasatch-Cache National Forest Wildfires in Utah 2017 in Utah