PARLEY'S CANYON, Utah --Unified Fire Authority crews responded to a field fire that burned about 6 acres in Parleys Canyon Saturday, and, while the cause is unknown, officials said the blaze's proximity to a gun range leads them to believe target shooting may have been the cause.
The fire is in the vicinity of the Mountain Dell Golf Course located along I-80 and in the vicinity of Mountain Dell Reservoir, and it started sometime around 2 p.m. Saturday.
Sunday, Battalion Chief Brian Anderton, UFA, said they still had a lot of crews at the scene and working around the perimeter of the fire to make sure it doesn't flare up, and they said they will remain on the mountain until early this evening unless the fire picks up. Anderton said the fire burned about six acres and no structures were damaged.
Air resources were used to fight the fire, and Unified Fire Authority tweeted a photo of a tanker aircraft in action.
Anderton said Saturday the cause is unknown, but they suspect target shooting may have been a factor.
"We don't have a definitive cause, but, based on the location and the proximity to the gun range up here, we suspect that gunfire could have contributed to this but right now it's not confirmed," he said.
The Hendricksen PMAA Gun Range is near the fire.
Firefighters made residents in the homes nearby aware of the fire, but no evacuations have been ordered.
Later Saturday night, officials said they believed they had extinguished all of the hot spots but weren't quite ready to call the fire contained. They said crews would be on-scene overnight to monitor the fire and put out any flare-ups that might occur.
