Zion National Park visitors evacuate after fire near campground
Visitors were forced to evacuate Zion National Park on Wednesday as a fire burned near an entrance gate and campground.
The nearly five-acre fire burned near the park’s South Campground, near the Zion visitor center. It was contained by about 4 p.m., park officials said Wednesday afternoon.
Spokesperson Amanda Rowland said park access was delayed while crews from the Color Country Interagency Fire Center worked to tame the blaze.
No one was injured in the Zion fire, Rowland said. A person or people caused the blaze, which remains under investigation. Park access was being granted again as of Wednesday evening.
The Color Country center works in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands to fight wildfires in southern Utah and northern Arizona. Their jurisdiction spans 16.5 million acres.
The Zion fire marked the third human-started fire in the Color Country area Wednesday, but details on the other two fires were not available.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.