Telephone Canyon burns Thurs.

The cause of the Telephone Canyon Fire may never be known, but it's a wake up call to just how dangerously dry it is right now.

Even with the recent rains, it's still dry out and Thursday's fire was a reminder of that. At about 1:30 p.m. residents in Green River not only heard the sirens of the fire trucks, but could see the smoke billowing out and over Mansface.

The fire was located at the base of Telephone Canyon, not too far from the Green River City Water Treatment Plant.

Green River Fire Chief Mike Nomis said he doesn't think the cause of the fire will ever be determined. Even though the fire was about 20 to 25 feet from a fire pit area, there was no indication the fire started there.

Nomis said they do know the fire started at the base of the canyon not to far from a Dominion Gas structure. The fire then moved up the canyon away from the facility.

Nomis said even though people around town thought it was close to houses, it really wasn't.

He said the fire was actually located in one canyon over than the one located next to the Knotty Pine homes.

Nomis said the fire was about 15-20 acres on private land. Even though the wind was whipping around it actually helped the firefighters because it blew the fire back onto itself.

It took about 11 Green River Fire Department firefighters and 10 to 12 Sweetwater County and Bureau of Land Management firefighters to put out the fire.

With the mild winter and heavy winds, it's dry out.

"Winds will dry everything out quickly," he said. "The potential of wildland fires and brush fires is high right now."

No one was injured and no property or structures were damaged in the fire.