Richards Fire South of Rock Springs Grows to 10 Square Miles

The Richards Mountain Fire 40 miles south of Rock Springs and along the Utah state line has grown to more than 6,500 acres, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The wildfire started about 2 p.m. Monday and is burning in sage brush, grass and juniper, according to the BLM's High Desert District as reported late Wednesday morning by the multi-agency website Inciweb.

Wednesday, the BLM said a Type 3 Incident Management Team from its High Desert District Mountain took command of the fire on Tuesday evening.

Wildland firefighters from the BLM Rock Springs Field Office, BLM Utah and Sweetwater County, along with available air resources are working on keeping the fire contained to an area west of Red Creek and south of Clay Basin Road (County Road 62).

The fire has moved south of Browns Park Road in the BLM's Green River District of Utah.

Crews will put in fire line to contain the fire and engage the fire as necessary to protect oil and gas infrastructure, structures, sage grouse habitat, grazing allotments and cultural resources. They will do this when they have a high probability of success and risk to personnel is manageable.

Wednesday, the Riverton office of the National Weather Service reported a slight chance of thunderstorms in the area for this afternoon.

However, it issued a fire weather watch for Thursday. That means means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur.

There are currently no evacuations in place and no structures have been lost.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

See the Must-Drive Roads in Every State