Beulah Fire continues to grow in Summit County

Blaze is expected to continue to grow.

Summit County’s Beulah Fire remained uncontained and continued to grow Saturday, charring more acreage in the Uinta Mountains.

The blaze has prompted closures of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest for areas around the fire, which was first reported Thursday.

According to incident management team spokesperson Toby Weed, it had grown to 1,425 acres by Friday evening. As of Saturday morning, an update posted on the forest’s Facebook page said it had expanded to more than 1,720 acres.

Similar to Friday, he said crews remained focused on protecting structures as flames spread to the north and to the east.

“The thought is that the fire is going to continue to increase in size,” he said.

Most immediately, he said, concern lies with the Hinckley Scout Ranch, about 2½ miles from the fire.

Farther away, he said, crews are beginning to find other buildings — second residences, cabins and historical structures — that firefighters are beginning to prepare.

Along with protecting structures, the management team’s update said firefighters are looking for possible routes for containment lines.

Weed said Friday that strong winds had been a challenge, and, in its Facebook update, the management team said it expects winds to gradually weaken.

Still, the vegetation in the area is dry and its moisture is “critically low,” the team reported, and “firefighters are observing erratic and extreme fire behavior.

“Challenges to firefighters include steep rocky terrain, accessing the fire and fire-weakened and standing dead trees,” the update said.

Closures near the fire include North Fork Road, East Fork Blacks Fork Road, East Fork Blacks Fork Trail, Stillwater Trail and the land between the locations.

Weed said a complex incident management is poised to take command beginning Monday morning.