(KCPW News) Crews fighting the Quail Fire near Alpine received some assistance from Mother Nature today in the form of some much needed rain. Loyal Clark, a spokesperson for the US Forest Service, says while the rain hasn’t extinguished the fire, it has been helpful.
“The precipitation has helped them tie in the fire line that we have already constructed. With this precipitation, it will also require less use of our helicopters making water drops. So this has actually been a really good addition to the firefighting efforts,” says Clark.
Clark says the Quail fire has burned nearly 2,000 acres and is now about 10 percent contained. Clark says recreationists that were evacuated on Tuesday were allowed to access the canyon to collect their equipment today.
Though the rain has offered some relief to firefighters, Nannette Hosenfeld, a meteorologist with the Salt Lake City office of the National Weather Service, says it’s unlikely they’ll continue to receive help from the rain.
“Every day through the weekend we are expecting this typical summer weather that you see around here, with big clouds building up over the mountains and then showers later in the afternoon. But nothing like today,” says Hosenfeld.
Weather service reports show that as of 1 pm more than a tenth of an inch of rain fell throughout the mountain areas south of Interstate 80. Evacuation orders are still in place for the Box Elder Cove subdivision, and recreation areas in American Fork Canyon and the Alpine Loop remain closed, however Clark says those closures will be reassessed later today.
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