This is your daily news rundown for Thursday, Jan. 9. In this edition:
- Utah firefighters are headed to California to help fight devastating fires
- Utah anglers broke seven state records last year
- The Utah Avalanche Center is enhancing its forecasts with a new platform
Utah firefighters head to California to help fight devastating fires
Dozens of Utah firefighters are headed to California to help battle devastating fires in the Los Angeles area that have killed at least five people and displaced tens of thousands more.
Over 60 firefighters from 17 different agencies across the Wasatch Front answered the call from California, which requested help from Utah’s Type 1 and Type 3 Engine Strike teams/task forces.
The groups of firefighters, each with three or four people and five engines, headed out from Utah this morning to help with fire suppression, evacuations, and other needs in the area. They will be some of nearly fourteen thousand firefighters dispatched to help.
Each response typically lasts up to 14 days, but can be extended depending on the conditions.
The five Los Angeles-area fires have burned nearly 30,000 acres in two days, killing at least five people and putting more than 100,000 under evacuation orders.
Utah anglers set seven new records in 2024
Utah fishers set seven new records while out on the water last year.
There are over 100 state fishing records in categories like catch-and-keep, spearfishing, and archery.
In 2024, fishers caught seven record-sized fish — white crappie, Colorado River cutthroat trout, bluegill, walleye, green sunfish, white bass, and smallmouth bass.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, which first began tracking fishing records in the early 1900s, said they’re intended to recognize anglers’ achievements and encourage them to get out on the water and encounter the many fish Utah has to offer.
Utah Avalanche Center is implementing a new forecasting platform
The Utah Avalanche Center is looking to improve avalanche forecasts thanks to a $1 million grant.
The funding, which comes from the Utah Outdoor Recreation Initiative, will support the development of the Next Generation Avalanche Forecasting Platform. The platform incorporates a snowpack simulation tool called SLF SNOWPACK model and machine learning alongside manually collected data.
The Utah Avalanche Center says this platform will allow them to get more accurate forecasts, streamline forecast creation, detect trends or anomalies that would otherwise go unnoticed, and provide a visual representation of snowpack conditions for forecasters and backcountry users.
They first did a proof of concept for the project near Alta during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 snow seasons. This season, it will be rolled out across the Logan, Uinta, Skyline, and Moab forecast regions.
