ST. GEORGE, Utah — Weeks after the Forsyth Fire destroyed over a dozen homes and forced the evacuation of entire communities in the Pine Valley area, residents are once again on edge after the wildfire made an ominous appearance atop Pine Mountain on Thursday evening.
Social media was abuzz as nervous users shared photos and videos of the fire as it appeared to climb up the mountain, sending a plume of smoke over southern Utah, and worrying those who believed the blaze was headed their way.
"It was crazy," said Washington City resident Bentley Woolsey on Friday. "The fire was huge. It was crazy, I thought it was so close."
People said the sight of flames and an orange glow in the sky made the Moon look like it was in an eclipse. But Kevin Abel, with the federal team managing the firefighting effort, said on the St. George side of Pine Valley Mountain, it was more smoke than fire.
"Last night, we had a pretty good smoke fire show up on the mountain. It looked a lot worse than it did at night," Abel explained. "The smoke tends to reflect the light down, so it's hard to tell exactly what it's doing. And it stayed within the area we wanted to keep it."
Video below shows Forsyth Fire burning atop Pine Mountain:
Officials are assuring residents that the prep work fire crews have done on the Forsyth Fire, which grew to 15,363 acres overnight, is working. The teams on the fire say no matter how bad it looks from St. George, they have a handle on things.
"The fire is held up on the top of the crest. It only reached the top of the crest in a very small portion of the line, probably 500 meters or less," Abel added. "We expect to be able to get a good control line in up there. We've got seven crews working in the area, and we're confident that we can hold it at the ridgeline."
As of 10:15 a.m., the fire is 58 percent contained.
How did the Forsyth Fire start 10 days before anyone ever noticed?
While many believed the fire crested Pine Mountain, it only got to the rim and did not cross over.
"Some of you may say it did crest it, and even post pictures that you can see it crested, but the eyes in the sky are telling us differently, as well as the IR imaging they take around midnight," the management team added, saying they will continue testing on Friday.
Hot, dry winds coming from the west will add to weather concerns as the fire gets pushed into Pine Valley, causing the fire to push up the mountains once again, igniting tall, dry trees and providing similar scenes to those that frightened residents on Thursday.
"...you will definitely see these flare-ups across the ridge," officials said, "and the flames reach high in the air.
"So all these changes and things that could look so frightening to so many are not unexpected from the teams fighting this fire. They have worked hard to prep for these contingencies."
The Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team added that while it may feel as if the Forsyth Fire is endlessly burning, they shared that fires of similar size also took a prolonged amount of time to be fully extinguished.
During its burn, the lightning-caused Forsyth Fire burned 13 homes before crews were able to contain the flames enough to allow residents to return to their houses in the area.
