Wildfire burning in Tooele County mountains

A wildfire was burning Sunday in the Sheep Rock Mountains in Tooele County.

The blaze, dubbed the Black Crook Creek fire, was first reported Saturday afternoon about 12 miles southwest of Vernon. It seems lighting from the storm that passed through earlier in the week had sparked the fire in a remote area of the forest, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Loyal Clark.

The flames quickly burned 438 acres of grass, sage and pinyon-juniper, but there had not been any new growth as of Sunday morning. That's thanks, at least in part, to various agencies thinning an area of dense brush a couple years ago, Clark said.

"When this fire reached that area, where we had done some thinning, it slowed the fire significantly," she said. "It's interesting to witness that these projects do work."

Eighty firefighters, a helicopter and four small-engine air tankers were fighting the fire, which is not threatening any structures. Fire officials have not yet estimated how much of the fire is contained or how long containment will take.

mmcfall@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mikeypanda