Utah, Arizona fires: Containment grows; smoke expected to ease

Fire crews continued to make progress in putting out several Utah and Arizona blazes that were sparked in July, sending smoke over St. George and surrounding communities.

The air quality had returned to normal ranges on Friday, according to readings from PurpleAir sensors in the St. George area, with the only area still showing unhealthy air conditions north of St. George, in La Verkin.

Follow the latest on Utah wildfires, smoke from fires and red flag warnings here.

Graff Point Fire

The Graff Point Fire, sparked by lightning, was discovered at 10 p.m. on July 12 about five miles south of Cedar City in Iron County. It burned 544 acres, and firefighters had built containment lines around 85% of the blaze as of Friday. Suppression costs were estimated at $3.3 million.

Full containment on the fire is expected by July 26. Firefighters over the next week will continue to mop up and monitor that fires do not ignite again in the area, according to the federal incident team managing the fire.

Local fire crews are scheduled to take control of the incident at 6 a.m. on Saturday, July 20. Evacuations and road closures were expected to be lifted at that time, fire officials said.

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