SALT LAKE CITY — A blaze that broke out near a popular Salt Lake City hiking trail Wednesday afternoon was quickly contained by a team of firefighters.
The Salt Lake City Fire Department responded to a grass fire near the Ensign Peak trailhead just after 4 p.m.
Then just before 5 p.m., the department announced that the fire was under control.
Officials said the fire was about 1.5 acres when they arrived, and estimated at five acres once they had it contained. They said the trail itself was not damaged.
Some crews stayed for a couple of hours to mop up but have since cleared the scene.
SLCFD asked the public to avoid the area initially, but in a later update, they gave the all-clear.
“Right now we’re in a heightened state,” said Capt. Chad Jepperson with Salt Lake City Fire. “We throw a lot of apparatus at things really quickly.”
Capt. Jepperson says what was a 1.5 acre burn when they arrived just after 4 p.m. Wednesday quickly spread to nearly five acres.
“Had it been windy, it could’ve been a lot worse,” said neighbor Karl Wild.
Ensign Peak is practically Wild’s backyard. In a matter of hours, his view changed drastically.
“You walk outside of your house and you see fire trucks and people trying to quickly address the fire,” Wild said.
An area that was once brush and tall grasses now sits as scorched earth, a doggie bag dispenser at the trailhead left twisted metal and ash.
“This was all brush right here - and our house is 20 feet over on the other side,” said Wild as he walked with his wife up a hardly recognizable section of trail.
The scarred ground revealed garbage and lost valuables - scenes which aren’t unfamiliar to Wild.
He recalled the nearby 2024 Sandhurst Fire which burned 200 acres.
“That did a lot of damage, burned a lot of land,” Wild said. “Took a while to get under control as well. Fortunately, this one, they got under control quickly”
But he knows the popular trail with its scenic views will bring in crowds for the fourth.
“Sometimes people set off fireworks here and that’s been a problem in the past,” said Wild.
So Wild says he hopes visitors see this rubble as a warning sign to not set off fireworks.
“It’s just kindling, and it will start a fire - and the fire department will have to be back up, trying to put it out,” Wild said.
While the cause is still being investigated, the trailhead reopened Wednesday evening.
This comes just under a year after a wildfire scorched an estimated 200 acres near the same area. The 2024 "Sandhurst Fire" forced around 40 homes to be evacuated. Investigators determined that it was caused by power transmission equipment, operated by Rocky Mountain Power.
Video below shows flames spreading on a hillside during the Sandhurst Fire:
