This Utah fire is hot, big, deadly, and growing fast.
Fires are breaking out all over the Intermountain West and there hasn’t even been a lightning storm. It’s going to be quite a summer.
Story. Help on the way for Utah’s weary firefighters. Hundreds from all over nation fight raging Neola North blaze. By Christopher Smart and Glen Warchol. The Salt Lake Tribune.
Note: while I was gone last week, a grass fire (mostly cheat grass) started by fireworks threatened housing at Idaho State University in my home town (Pocatello). The county (Bannock) has now banned all fireworks for July 4 period.
Related story. Dead rancher had refused to evacuate. Salt Lake Tribune.
Updates on the fire July 5. Utah wildfire, spreading in national forest, might burn all summer, says fire official. Associated Press.
National Incident web’s updates on the Neola fire (lots of information).
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
