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Sandra Yi reporting Firefighters in Weber and Utah Counties battled the heat and the flames. A tank fire and a field fire kept them busy.
The fires are out now, but triple digit temperatures didn't make it any easier for firefighters.
Ted Black: "Heat is always a special challenge as any weather is. We have to keep the men hydrated."
One firefighter battling a field fire in Utah County today suffered from heat exhaustion and was taken to the hospital to be treated for that.
The fire is out, but crews are still watching for hot spots. About 70 acres burned Crews from several agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, attacked the fire from the air and on the ground.
Dave Vickers, State Division of Forestry: "It is hot out there and you're walking up and down slopes so you're exerting yourself. Wild land firefighting is an exertive type of firefighting. A lot of your work has to be done with hand tools."
Despite the heat, crews in Weber County were able to knock out a tank fire pretty quickly. And that was a good thing, because there's liquid asphalt in the tank. Firefighters say, once asphalt burns, it's hard to put out.
Firefighters don't know where or how the fire started, but they know it started near the tank. Plastic polymer, which is a product used in asphalt, is stored outside of the tank, and that was on fire, when crews arrived.
The tank is on the property of Staker & Parson, which produces asphalt, but the fire happened on an area that is leased to Sinclair Oil.
Firefighters say, a Staker & Parson's employee drove by, saw the smoke and flames and called 9-1-1.
The fire only charred the tank's outer layer, a building next door and wood pallets.
Ted Black, Fire Marshal, Weber Fire District: "We got a fast attack and some water on the fire, and we've knocked the fire down for the most part. We're still trying to get access into one building that we've got a little fire in, and then we should get it knocked down. It's just a matter on a fire like this of getting everything cooled back down."
The cause of that tank fire is still under investigation. But crews believe that field fire in Utah County was human caused.
