Fire investigators said Wednesday that a wildfire burning near a luxury subdivision along the southeastern foothills of Bountiful was human-caused.
The Bountiful-Summerwood Fire began in tinder-dry oak brush and grass about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, and initially burned within about a quarter-mile of the 50-home Summerwood development.
There is a private shooting range in the area where the fire began, according to neighbors. Video footage taken by a KSL helicopter crew minutes after the blaze erupted shows two vehicles and at least two people in a drainage near a freshly fire-blackened slope as smoke and flames crest the ridge above them.
Fire information officer Kim Osborn said Wednesday that investigators had viewed the video, but she declined to comment further.
Meanwhile firefighting efforts were paying off. The fire was 25 percent contained as of Wednesday evening, officials said.
Winds shifted upslope overnight and the blaze, remapped from 150 to just 75 acres, burned into unoccupied BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands.
Osborn said the fire was being attacked on both its northern and southern flanks Wednesday. While not officially contained, crews were making good progress in hemming in the blaze with the help of water-bearing helicopters and an air tanker laden with fire retardant chemicals.
Between 50 and 60 firefighters and fire personnel were on the scene, according to a Wednesday evening update from officials, including two Type-2 crews, two helicopter, an air attack crew and seven engines.
While residents initially were told to prepare to evacuate Tuesday night, no evacuations occurred, Osborn said. No homes were damaged and no injuries reported.
Jeff Bassett, chief of the South Davis Metro Fire District, said firefighting on Wednesday was primarily in the hands of USFS and BLM crews, with the danger to homes long passed.
“We were on the fire all night, but its looking really good today,” he said.
Authorities did advise homeowners to keep their windows closed to avoid occasional, still thick puffs of smoke drifting in from the fire.
The fire began in rugged terrain between the subdivision and City Creek Canyon. It spread quickly due to prevailing hot, dry conditions that made the brush and shrub lands above Bountiful easy prey for the flames.
Tunnel Springs Park in North Salt Lake and North Canyon Park in Bountiful remained closed throughout the day, being used as staging areas by firefighters and their equipment.
Bountiful City police added that Mueller Park Canyon and North Canyon also were closed.
