Small fire burning in Dixie National Forest was human caused

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Forest Service reports that a fire is burning on Blake Gubler road on the Pine Valley Ranger District of the Dixie National Forest.

The fire was reported Saturday afternoon at around 2 p.m. USFS spokesman Kevin Abel told KSL. By late Saturday afternoon, the fire had burned 15 acres of short grass and brush.

Bureau of Land Management and state resources responded to the fire, and by late afternoon on Saturday there were six engines at the scene.

Abel said that no structures were threatened and the Forest Service says a UTV that caught fire sparked the blaze.

Right now, the Dixie National Forest is under Stage 1 Fire Restrictions. These restrictions restrict or prohibit:

• Igniting, building, maintaining, or using a fire (including charcoal and briquettes) outside of a fire structure provided by the Forest Service within a designated area;
• Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of any flammable material.

These Stage 1 restrictions are in place, according to the USFS, because of the existence of high fire danger, and increased levels of recreational use of the land.

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