According to a release from the Ogden City Fire Department, crews were dispatched to the area at approximately 9:47 p.m. after motorists traveling on I-15 noticed the flames and called 911.

Crews accessed a remote area to address the fire, per the release, which noted that the blaze was quickly contained to an area spanning less than 1 acre as firefighters “acted swiftly and aggressively” to surround the fire and curb its growth.

No homes or other structures were threatened by the fire.

Ogden City Fire was joined in the containment effort by firefighters from the Riverdale City Fire Department. Between the two agencies, 23 firefighters, two engines, one ladder truck, an ambulance, a battalion chief, three brush trucks and a UTV responded to the scene.

Deputy Fire Chief Mike Slater of the Ogden City Fire Department told the Standard-Examiner that fire mitigation work had been done in the area in recent weeks.

“We have crews that go in and they thin the thick brush and they’ll create defensible spaceline,” Slater said. “This wasn’t in the exact area of the mitigation, it was just adjacent to it, but it was in that area. Had the fire progressed, it would have stopped that fire from going any further.”

Added Slater: “The key with wildland or any kind of grass fire is we don’t want it to spread into to the residential areas. There’s not a lot of residential areas (where the fire occurred), but if we can thin the shrubbage out there and the actual fuels out there, it gives us a hand up if there’s a fire in the area.”

The origin of the fire has yet to be determined, according to Slater, who said power lines, lightning strikes and human activity are common ignition causes.

As the dry season sets in, Slater advised members of the community to be conscious of fire risks.

“The moisture and the fuels are still there, but as the heat continues to dry out those moistures in that fuel, it becomes more readily available to ignite the burn,” he said. “So, just be cautious when you’re in and around dry areas that you’re not the cause of ignition and you’re being careful.”

He added that people who live in urban-wildlife interface areas should have some kind of defensible space around their homes to eliminate materials that could cause a fire to move into their residence.