Silver King Fire doubles in size to nearly 11K acres, continues showing ‘extreme fire behavior’

MARYSVALE, Utah ( ABC4 ) — The Silver King Fire in southern Utah — which was discovered on Friday, July 5 — continued to grow on Sunday, doubling in size from roughly 5,400 acres at the beginning of the day to more than 10,800 acres by Sunday night.

Utah Fire Info posted an update on social media around 7 p.m. on Sunday to say that the blaze had increased in size — doubling in less than nine hours after its 10:30 a.m. update on the fire .

Kylee Stott, a public information officer over the Silver King Fire, told ABC4.com that the fire was started by a lighting strike.

“There’s been a Red Flag Warning that started yesterday morning and also went into today,” Stott said. “High winds, low relative humidities, and high temperatures, so it’s caused some extreme fire behavior.”

Stott said the wildfire was still zero percent contained as of Sunday evening. Stott encouraged residents to be aware of the fire and keep themselves updated on the current situation.

“If the public can avoid the area where they can, that would be great,” Stott said. “Just to provide for firefighter safety and the public’s safety as well.”

Watch the full interview with Public Information Officer Kylee Stott below:

How crews are responding to the Silver King Fire

“Engines, crews, aircraft, and dozers are working very hard in extreme conditions to mitigate fire spread where possible,” Utah Fire Info said on Sunday evening.

Officials said fixed-wing aircraft had been grounded because of the windy conditions, but helicopters were being “heavily utilized” as of the Sunday evening update.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved the use of federal funds to fight the Silver King Fire on Sunday as well. FEMA said roughly 300 homes in Marysvale were being threatened by the wildfire.

“The authorization makes FEMA funding available to pay 75 percent of the state’s eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling designated fires,” FEMA said in a press release.

FEMA explained the grant would not cover individual home or business owners, nor would it cover other infrastructure damage.

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