Cool, rainy weekend aided Utah firefighters

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It has burned 48,038 acres in a national forest and along a scenic byway, but the Seeley Fire's days are numbered.

The blaze was near containment Monday. A lightning strike ignited the Seeley Fire on June 26 on the Manti-La Sal National Forest in Emery County. Since then the fire burned up Huntington Canyon and into Sanpete County scarring the landscape on a designated scenic byway, State Road 31. The Seeley Fire has not destroyed any homes.

Weekend rain and humidity has aided Utah firefighters.

That moisture was credited for helping to halt the Lake Canyon Fire, which was burning 20 miles southwest of Duchesne. The fire, started by lightning on Friday, reached 85 acres but was 100 percent contained Monday afternoon.

The Baboon Fire was fully contained Sunday evening. It ignited Thursday near Enoch and spread toward Minersville, burning 19,032 acres.

A tweet from the website Utahfireinfo.gov on Sunday said three other fires had been contained: the Dizzy Rock Fire, the North Lucky 7 Fire and the Red Butte Fire.

The Dizzy Rock Fire, which burned west of the Sanpete County town of Wales in Maple Canyon, was estimated at 30 acres. That fire began Thursday afternoon, but its cause remained under investigation.

The North Lucky 7 Fire had burned 574 acres five miles west of Etna.

The Red Butte Fire burned 1,167 acres within two miles of Grouse Creek.

The 4,358-acre Rhyolite Fire, on the east side of the Pilot Mountains, also was fully contained Monday, said Teresa Rigby, spokeswoman for fire crews.

In Tooele County, the lightning-ignited Flood Canyon Fire also was contained Monday after burning about 720 acres on the western slopes of the Oquirrh Mountains.

Other active fires:

• A series of now-combined wildfires continued to burn on tens of thousands of acres just south of the Utah-Arizona border. The Hobble Complex Fire, about 35 miles south of St. George in the Arizona Strip, had topped 35,000 acres. But the Plateau Fire, 30 miles farther south in Arizona, was declared 100 percent contained on Tuesday, after having burned 3,175 acres.

• The 16,865-acre Wolf Den Fire in Uintah County, also sparked by lightning, was expected to be fully contained on Aug. 1.