Alaska firefighters helping to snuff out Utah's Shingle Fire

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - One hundred firefighters from the Alaska Division of Forestry and BLM are now in Utah helping push back flames. Mel Slater, from the Alaska Division of Forestry says "The firefighters that are going down are motivated and excited and I think they are going to do a good job down there."

The firefighters will be on the ground fighting the Shingle fire in Southern Utah - a fire that certainly needs attention because it is only 10 percent contained.

Slater says the decision to send man power to Utah happened after an in depth evaluation of their own situation. "There have been meetings to determine how much of the current force we could afford to send to the lower 48." That's because it’s still fire season in Alaska as well. Slater says "There's a lot of lightning and the ground is still relatively dry. We still have a number of fire starts."

Slater says while conditions are ripe in Alaska the situation is under control and he says if Utah needs more firefighters Alaska is ready to help."We are actually prepared to send more if the request comes."

The Alaska firefighters flew down here on Wednesday and will be here for two weeks. The group is actually the second wave from Alaska to come down to the lower 48. On Monday one hundred firefighters went to Wyoming to help deal with the 55 thousand acre Fontenelle Fire.