On the morning of Sept. 6, lightning struck trees at the head of Pole Canyon east of central Utah’s Mount Nebo. Although the flames were not spreading, by the next day the U.S. Forest Service deployed 52 people, including two ground crews, to “confine and contain” a fire that was about the size of a suburban residential lot.
The agency’s plan was not to stomp out the flames burning far from homes but rather to rein in what became known as the Pole Creek Fire.
“They were line-building in what we thought was a safe and effective location,” said David Whittekiend, supervisor for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.