Cost to fight biggest blaze in county this decade reached $2.4 million, 440 personnel

Though it started small and was detected late, due to its origination in high elevations, the lightning-ignited Big Pole fire in Skull Valley grew ferociously in a matter of days to become the biggest wildfire to plague the county in at least a decade.

The fire started Aug. 5 and burned nearly 44,000 acres of land on the western slopes of the Stansbury Mountains and lower-lying open rangeland.

High southerly winds pushed the flames northward at first, then shifting winds caused flames to travel back and forth over the peaks of the Stansburys.

Resources from federal, state and local agencies responded to the fire, but as it grew crews from around the country were called in to compliment that effort.

The crews, which were jointly known as a Type 2 Incident Management Team, set up a tent city at Grantsville High School and the adjacent city park. The mobilization of as many as 440 personnel — including firefighters, helicopter operators, mechanics, mappers, engineers and support personnel — was one of the largest the county has seen in recent years, according to Terry Krasko, public information officer for the incident management team.

“In the lower 48, this fire was the biggest this year,” Krasko said back in August.

The fire ultimately destroyed one residence and damaged three. Two commercial properties — a US Magnesium well and a chicken farm disposal area — were also damaged. Additionally, ten outbuildings were destroyed.

Beyond threatening and destroying structures and killing livestock, the fire also carried a human toll as it crept near homes and forced residents to take action to protect themselves.

“It was right on top of us,” said Dee Jensen, a 25-year Skull Valley resident who kept her home doused with water to prevent it from going up in flames. “We’ve had three big fires out here and that’s the biggest one. It was spooky.”

The fire charred primarily what Tom Becker, a wildlife biologist with the state Division of Wildlife Resources, refers to as winter range land, meaning even during snowy months animals can be seen nibbling on plant life peeking through the frozen ground.

“Winter range land is crucial,” Becker said back in August. “Without good winter range, animals tend to die off during the winter. The fire has resulted in the loss of 99 percent of that range and it won’t recoup very quickly because it has a lower precipitation. Some of the sagebrush out there is probably 30 to 40 years old. To get up above a typical snow depth to where it’s accessible to the animals will take 20 to 25 years.”

Such a loss will affect deer, turkeys, elk, rabbits and various bird populations for years to come, Becker said following the fire.

The final bill for fighting the fire — which took crews a week and a half to suppress — totaled $2.4 million, which included firefighter wages and the cost of using an armada of fire suppression equipment.

The Big Pole fire started around the same time as several other fires in the county. A fire in Pole Canyon, east of Erda, dubbed the Coyote fire, burned 71 acres in high elevations. A fire in Settlement Canyon was fully contained after scorching 147 acres. Upon discovery, the fire was only 10 acres in size, but strong winds fanned flames and in only a few hours it had grown to more than 100 acres. It was extinguished partly by helicopters dumping water scooped out of Settlement Canyon Reservoir. The White Rocks fire, which burned south of the Big Pole fire in Skull Valley, burned 10,600 acres in steep and sandy terrain.

Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com