Cooler Conditions Help Crews Fighting Brush Fire in Utah

Fire crews aided by cool overnight weather began to get the upper hand on a brush fire Sunday that has threatened a major power substation and lines feeding electricity to the West Coast and Las Vegas.

The fire has blackened more than 3,200 acres of mostly federal land near Mona, 65 miles south of Salt Lake City, and at one point came within a half mile of the Mona Substation.

Firefighters had the blaze about 60% contained by Sunday evening and expected to have it fully contained by this evening.

Lower temperatures and favorable winds pushed the fire to more than 1 1/2 miles from the substation Sunday, said Jerry Rohnert, Fire Department spokesman.

Firefighters had feared that in the late afternoon heat, thermal winds would push the fire through the sage, pinyon and grass at locomotive speeds in virtually any direction, Rohnert said.

Bulldozers have cut a 60-foot-wide fire line around the substation in hopes of keeping the fire away from the power lines, which include two 345,000-volt lines to the Los Angeles Basin and parts of Nevada.