This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Just as crews began getting the upper hand on several blazes, new ones had cropped up Thursday amid northern Utah's tinder-dry desert rangelands.
The four-day-old, lightning-sparked Goose Nest Fire, at near 1,100 acres, was 90 percent contained early Thursday. Bureau of Land Management officials said about 60 firefighters hoped by midday to fully contain the flames, burning in grass and brush about 30 miles southwest of Provo.
Crews had completed fire-containment lines around the Patterson Pass Fire, sparked by target shooters Monday night. It had blackened nearly 120 acres of brush and juniper about 20 miles northeast of Wendover, near the Utah-Nevada state line.
Firefighters continued to build lines along the perimeter of the 100-acre Millard West Bench Fire, which also was believed to have been started by lightning Monday afternoon. It was burning in desert rangelands about 125 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
Two new fires had ignited by Thursday: The Topliff Fire in Tooele County's 12 Mile Pass had burned more than 150 acres of grasses and brush on BLM land, and about 100 firefighters were fighting it. Another blaze, the Mag Fire, had topped 50 acres about five miles northeast of Holden in Millard County.
BLM spokeswoman Cami Lee said the causes for both of those new fires remained under investigation, but no injuries or structural damage had been reported.