SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert says a wildfire near a southwestern Utah ski town has forced the evacuations of 400 more homes after the fire doubled in size overnight amid high winds.
Herbert said Thursday in a news conference on KUED-TV that the additional homes are east of the fire’s epicenter in Brian Head. More than 700 people have been out of their homes since Saturday when the fire was started by someone using a torch to burn weeds.
Erin Darboven of the Bureau of Land Management says the fire has spread to 17 square miles (44 square kilometers) and is heading toward the Panguitch Lake.
Darboven says the stretch of Highway 143 that is closed has been extended to nearly 48 miles (77 kilometers) from Parowan to Panguitch. Previously, a 15-mile (24-kilometer) stretch was closed.