Utah
Utah Task Force One helping victims in Helene aftermath
SALT LAKE CITY — Devastation is widespread in the Southeast as communities are left with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
As the nation turns its attention to impacted areas, through FEMA, Unified Fire Authority’s Task Force One in Utah has crews with boots on the ground helping out. A group of more than 40 were in Tennessee Thursday.
While Utahns view video and photos of Hurricane Helene ripping through the Southeast, those on the ground are seeing the magnitude of damage up close.
“You can’t imagine the destruction,” said Bryan Case, Task Force Manager with Unified Fire Authority.
Case is in Unicoi County, Tennessee with the team.
“There are some areas where cars and things like that are stuck in the rivers and waterways and we are making access into those areas to see if there are people that were trapped in those vehicles …We are largely in a recovery mode in these areas that we’re working in,” Case said.
Amid the search, Case said buildings have been wiped away. As his team helps clear debris fields, he said residents are also facing infrastructure issues along with water and electricity problems.
“We’re also looking at overpasses and bridges. So, our structural engineers are working with locals to figure out how best to approach these areas, because there are many things that are caught up underneath these bridges that have yet to be searched,” said Case.
As of Friday, the team will have been there for one week. They expect to be there for two weeks.
With more work on the way for task forces across the Southeast, they are prepared to help for the long haul.
“There’s a threatening storm out in the Gulf Coast now so there’s a good chance that while we’re out, we might be relocated to other states entirely for different events,” Case said.
According to him, if trouble brews in another area, any teammate from the task force may be called to help. But if one goes, they all go.
SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah (KUTV) — An AMBER Alert was canceled after being issued for a 9-year-old boy out of South Salt Lake.
Marie Erika Lynn Marsh, 33, was accused of abducting a 9-year-old non-family member.
The alert was issued at 5:38 p.m. It was canceled just after 6 p.m.
An AMBER Alert was issued for Raymond Vigil, a 9-year-old boy abducted by Marie Erika Lynn Marsh, a 33-year-old non-family member. (Photo: AMBER Alert)
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SALT LAKE CITY — More fire restrictions are being added in Utah despite some recent help in its drought situation.
The Bureau of Land Management is reinstating Stage 1 fire restrictions on land it manages in Juab and Millard counties on Friday. State land managers issued a similar order for Juab and Sanpete counties, which applies to state lands and unincorporated private lands in the county.
It prohibits building or maintaining any open fire or campfires using solid fuels or any ash-producing fuel in the section of central Utah, except for fire rings or grills at developed campgrounds or day-use areas on public state lands that have a pressurized running water system.
Open fires are also permitted at permanently constructed fire pits at private residences, as long as they have a pressurized water system.
The order also bans any smoking except within a vehicle or enclosed area, as well as grinding, cutting or welding of metal, or operating or using any internal combustion engine without a spark-arresting device. Violation can result in fines, restitution fees and even jail time.
It matches several other Stage 1 restrictions already in place across the state. Most of the restrictions are located in southwest Utah, but recent restrictions have crept up into central Utah and parts of the Wasatch region, too.
Utah Fire Info maintains a list of active fire restrictions in the state.
Both new orders were signed amid some encouraging signs in Utah’s drought situation this week. The amount of extreme drought in the state dropped from 60% last week to 43% this week, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported earlier Thursday. Most of the improvement came in other parts of central Utah.
However, nearly 95% of the state remains in at least severe drought, and all other parts of the state remain in at least moderate drought. That means it’s still plenty dry for new fires.
Close to 250 different fires have been reported across the state this year, burning over 12,000 acres of land. The entire state is currently listed as having above-normal fire potential as well, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.
“As fire danger continues to increase across the region, fire managers are asking the public to use caution with any activity that could spark a wildfire,” said Kayli Guild, fire prevention and communications coordinator for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
Fox News senior correspondent Alicia Acuna has the latest on two former Utah court clerks charged with harboring illegal aliens on ‘Special Report.’
Jennifer Joma and Lauren Moro, former Utah court clerks, plead not guilty to felony obstruction charges for aiding illegal immigrants. Federal prosecutors allege the clerks improperly accessed databases to identify undocumented individuals, then guided them out the courthouse’s back door to evade ICE agents. A trial is set for August.
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