Crews quickly contain brush fire in Smithfield

Fire crews were quickly able to contain a brush fire that started Friday afternoon. The fire started around 4:45 p.m. near a shooting range at the mouth of Dry Canyon, east of Smithfield.

Winds were blowing from the west at the time, which pushed flames east, up the mountainside and onto the the ridge of the canyon.

Smithfield City Fire Chief Jay Downs said a quick response from multiple agencies helped to contain the fire quickly.

“We had fire departments from all over the valley on this fire,” said Downs. “We figure we had about 75 firefighters. We also had units from the US Forest Service, and we also had two airplanes that did a couple drops for us and also a helicopter that worked with us.”

The fire burned around 15 acres and never threatened any homes or structures.

Downs said they suspect the fire was human caused but are continuing to investigate.

“There was a couple individuals up there shooting when the fire started.”

Firefighters were brought off the hillside around 8:45 p.m. when it was determined that the fire was mostly extinguished. The area will be monitored for a couple days to prevent any flareups.

Downs said the wind and fast reactions from firefighters really helped them get the upper had on the fire and keep it from spreading.

“The winds started to die down which helped us out, but we had a good effort of suppression, with approximately 75 firefighters from all over the valley that really worked hard to contain this fire and stop it.”

There was one minor injury reported. One firefighter was taken to the hospital after injuring his shoulder.

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