Crews wrestle 21,000-acre wildfire in Utah*

By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY

Fire crews struggled Monday to contain a 21,000-acre wildfire in central
Utah that already has forced the evacuation of several small communities
and is expected to grow even more.

Rain showers and increased humidity during the weekend helped crews keep
the fire from spreading. But thunderstorms forecast for Monday afternoon
were expected to produce winds gusting as high as 50 mph.

Bert Hart, a Bureau of Land Management official working with fire crews
headquartered in Nephi, said the wind gusts were knocking over their
tents by early Monday.

"It's going to get bigger," he said of the blaze.

Adding to the strong winds is a weather pattern that is expected to
bring more thunderstorms — and more lightning — over the next two days.

"The whole chain of thunderstorms there … it's just full of lightning
right now," said Tom Moore, a senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel.

The fire started Thursday and remained about 15% contained Monday,
according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The small towns of Oaker Hills, Indian Ridge, Elk Ridge, Indianola and
Holiday Oaks had been evacuated, officials said.

Hart said the fire has been difficult to contain because of the rugged
terrain. Rock cliffs and steep hills have made many areas unreachable in
vehicles, requiring the deployment of crews on foot working with hand tools.

With so many areas around the country experiencing large wildfires,
however, only three of the 27 "hand crews" requested had arrived by
Monday, Hart said.

A wildfire in southern Idaho had covered more than 880 square miles,
growing by about 200 square miles in just 24 hours during the weekend.

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Dozens of other large fires were burning across the West, primarily in
Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah, according to the fire agency.

Contributing: Associated Press