Bridal Veil Restaurant Fire-Provo Canyon

[UTFFEMT]

Fire destroys building at Bridal Veil Falls
July 25th, 2008 @ 11:58am
Team coverage


A fire burning near Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon is mostly out this afternoon.

Loyal Clark, with the U.S. Forest Service, says, "With increasingly hot temperature this afternoon and with the terrain, we may have continued fire activity throughout the afternoon, but we are not expecting it to be significant."

It destroyed an old restaurant at the falls and snapped one tram cable line but was contained to the structure.

Crews say it started just after 11 p.m. They let it burn through the night, closely monitoring it. A forest service crew plans to do a fly over later this morning to assess the status of the fire.

Some of the spectators didn't even realize what they were watching as helicopters flew over head to douse the flames. One person said, "I had no idea." Another person said, "I was wondering if it was clouds."

Forester Tim Clark says the restaurant is no longer the problem, it's the spreading fire. He says, "Some of the debris had fallen below, onto the ledges down below, and now it's burning up into the timbered area around the lodge itself.

Surrounding trails and campsite are closed.

The visitors center below is not affected and traffic is allowed through on Highway 189.


Utah County fire officials believe the fire may have been intentionally set. Investigators are interviewing people who were hiking in the area at the time the fire started, in hopes they can help with the investigation.

One witness we spoke with, Russ Ridge, says the fire is definitely hard to get to. "It's up on the mountain in a very precarious place. I don't know how they're going to get to it unless they bring in a helicopter," he said.


The restaurant at the top of the falls has been closed for several years.

So far, there are no suspects.