SALT LAKE CITY -- Thick smoke from wildfires in Tooele and southern Utah found their way into urban neighborhoods throughout the Salt Lake Valley on Friday.
Utah's Department of Air Quality says summer weather is keeping the smoke from moving on.
The Flood Canyon Fire near Tooele is much smaller than many of the state’s other fires currently burning. However, it is often not about the size, but how much fuel there is to burn.
“This one, when I was briefed on it [Flood Fire], was only 300 or 400 acres. So it's much smaller, but the smoke is right here,” says Bo Call from the Division of Air Quality. “So size really isn't that important; it's how much smoke is put out and is and how it affects you."
The Department of Air Quality is forecasting a yellow air day for Saturday and is hoping the wind and rain will push out a lot of the smoke. But the rain brings additional concerns for burn scar areas that have no vegetation to hold water, which leaves those areas open to flooding.
