Human-caused Deer Creek Fire burns 17,00 acres with containment exceeding 50 percent

The Deer Creek Fire in old La Sal is now at 17,184 acres burned but has seen containment rise to 54 percent as of the report on the morning of July 22.
The containment line is mostly on the south, west and parts of the north side of the fire.
On July 21, San Juan County Sheriff Lehi Lacy shared in a statement that the sheriff’s office with the Utah Fire Authority has determined that the fire was human caused.
While an individual has been identified, the Sheriff says they are not releasing any names as of Monday evening.
Cloud cover and cooler temperatures have aided firefighters since last weekend to get a handle on the flames.
Jesse Bender, Public Information Officer with the Great Basin Team 4 explained they are gaining ground on the fire.
“Those diminished winds, the lower temperatures, a little bit higher humidity with the cloud cover coming in have really helped out our firefighters and given us a chance to work directly along the fire perimeter instead of needing to work a little more indirectly out along roads and ridges and finding the best places.”
Officials said that fireline construction played a key role in containment efforts and measurement of the lines is being completed. Due to moderating fire behavior, crews were able to work directly along the fire edge, increase containment, and further secure the fire’s perimeter to the east and southeast.
Favorable weather conditions helped crews transition some western portions of the fire from active suppression efforts to repairing portions of the landscape impacted by efforts of firefighting.
Favorable weather conditions should continue with a chance of precipitation, allowing crews to build upon containment while also beginning to repair firelines on state/private and federal lands impacted by firefighting efforts.
Resources continue to be positioned on the west end of Paradox where structure protection assessments are being made and the construction of a contingency dozer line, some containment has been achieved on the fire line in the Paradox valley.
Bender explains they’ve made good progress after seeing some rapid spread on Wednesday with the fire moving a mile an hour.
“It covered a lot of ground in a really quick amount of time and burned about 2,000 acres that evening, but since then, we've made really good progress. One thing that's helped us is the terrain. The fire burned up to the edge of a mesa where it got rockier, less continuous vegetation to burn through. That alone was an advantage for us and then right after those winds came through, the temperatures dropped a little bit, the humidities came up a little bit, and that also helped with that fire spread. So, it's certainly not contained on that end of the fire, but we're feeling a lot more confident about where the fire is right now and our ability to work along that perimeter and reduce that threat to the communities.”
The damage assessment of primary structures within the current fire perimeter is complete and 11 private structures, a Forest Service guard station, and a communication site were damaged or destroyed in the early days of the Deer Creek Fire. Additional damage assessments are ongoing. Numbers are preliminary and further assessments are being completed by San Juan County.
The County is now actively seeking information from Old La Sal residents with the Deer Creek Fire Suppression Repair Request form now active. The form will help the county identify areas in need of repair after the fire. That form can be found on county communication channels online.
San Juan County has implemented an evacuation zone map for the fire with nine areas, divided into ready, set and go phases to prepare residents for potential evacuations.
Zones 2-4 are in a Go status as of last update on Monday evening, zone six remains in the same go status but residents of Mountain Shadows, Lower Highway 46 and Hang Dog will have access and be allowed to stay at a set status.
Zone one is in a set status with residents allowed to enter through Geyser Pass Road, Zones 5,7 and 8 are in a ready status.
Residents can find the map of the zones on the county communication channels.
The fire that started on afternoon of July 10 was recently revealed to be human caused, many other questions remain unanswered but Bender says they know the state and investigators are working hard to gather precise information on the start of the fire.
“Obviously, it's always hard on everybody when we have human ignitions and a lot of questions and then when they grow to a really large state like this and so there those investigators are doing a lot of good work to be sure they know exactly what happened and can follow up on it appropriately. So we too here in the incident management team are waiting to hear more from the state on exactly that cause and the nature and the outcome but at this point that investigation is on going. They were so quick with their initial attack of this. (...) but those winds were just super strong that day and under the drought conditions and a lot of really dry vegetation out there it was just bad timing for that scenario.”
On July 22, 581 personnel are fighting the flames including seven helicopters, 30 engines, four dozers and 15 crews.
Fire behavior has officials recommending those traveling on Highway 46 in Utah and Highway 90 in Colorado to check conditions before traveling. The public is also encouraged to turn on headlights and travel with caution through the area.
Bender says they know there’s interest in people viewing the efforts but asks the public to keep the area clear and to pay attention as you travel through the area.
“We just encourage folks to really pay attention if you're driving during those times. Maybe pull over in a safe place. case and take a look. But pay attention to your driving.
“Pay attention to the additional vehicle traffic that's on the roads for the potential to have smoke on the roadways and reduced visibility there as well.”