Large fire burning near Camp Williams forces evacuations

[Gunreference1]

Large fire burning near Camp Williams forces evacuations

September 20th, 2010 @ 1:28am

CAMP WILLIAMS -- Crews are working to contain a large, fast-moving fire sparked at a Camp Williams machine gun firing range Sunday. (Emphasis added)

At least 1,400 homes in Herriman have been evacuated, and more evacuations are expected to take place overnight.

Fire officials have confirmed three homes have caught fire, but did not give specific addresses. That number could grow as hundreds of homes face immediate threat.

Herriman City Mayor Josh Mills and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon have signed a declaration of State of Emergency. Gov. Gary Herbert is also on site.

To read the rest of the story click the link below.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=12492861

Steve

Poster's Note: I'll be curious to learn if there are any changes made to the operation of the range in the future.

[Penguin]

I can see the smoke and smell it. Looks bad though I haven't been over there.

[mriddick]

I'll be curious to learn if there are any changes made to the operation of the range in the future.

I'd be surprised if they do live fire in times of high fire risk from here on out.

[Penguin]

High fire risk is most of the year out there unless there is snow in the ground it it rained this week.

[HDR]

An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire has been launched. McIntire says no tracer rounds, which can be a fire hazard, were used in the machine gun training.

No tracers makes this more interesting..

[GunBum]

I live south of Camp Williams, and the fire is on the north side. When the winds shifted this morning, my house filled with smoke. Although it didn't look that bad when I drove by on the way to the airport.

[sisyphus]

The smoke at about 4PM yesterday was pretty thick about halfway up the valley. It stayed all night but there are worse things than sagebrush smoke. At 7AM today I looked south as I was travelling west and I didn't think it looked so bad from where I was. My daughters folks in law had to evac but they just drove their bus-size motor home down to a church parking lot and roughed it.

Too bad about those people's homes burning, but the state should have some liability there since it was the N.G. that sparked the blaze.

[Penguin]

From what I saw while driving around today it didn't look as bad but about as close as I got was I-15 though.

[sisyphus]

Didn't seem too windy in SL Valley today, but it blew quite a bit over west of the Oquirrhs (Usually does anyway). The wind was what really did Herriman in on that first day.

[Gunreference1]

Blaze started by Utah guard 90 pct. contained

By Paul Foy - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Sep 23, 2010 21:06:16 EDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Fire officials in Utah say they’re close to containing a wildfire that swept into a Salt Lake City suburb and forced the evacuation of more than 1,600 homes.

Fire spokesman Jason Curry said the six-square-mile Machine Gun fire near Herriman was 90 percent contained as of Thursday night.

To read the rest of the story click the link below.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/09/ap-guard-utah-blaze-started-by-guard-90-percent-contained-092310/

Steve

[Penguin]

Glad to hear it is almost out.

[Gunreference1]

New Camp Williams precautions aimed at fire prevention

By Katie Drake
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published Nov 3, 2010 09:34PM
Updated 21 minutes ago Updated Nov 3, 2010 10:29PM

Soldiers at Camp Williams will resume live-fire training exercises Thursday, but with new safety precautions in place. Surrounding communities support the new measures.

Firing-range operations had been suspended following the fire near Herriman, which began Sept. 19 when a spark from a machine-gun round ignited a hillside, destroying three homes and scorching 4,300 acres. Though four investigations into the Machine Gun Fire have yet to be resolved, training has become backlogged and needs to resume, said Brig. Gen. Jeff Burton, of the Utah National Guard.

To read the rest of the story click the link below.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50602113-76/fire-training-camp-williams.html.csp

Steve