Pine Valley News

NEW HARMONY - New Harmony residents and representatives of the U.S. Forest Service will gather in town Oct.

NEW HARMONY - Washington County's oldest settlement celebrated its survival as a tight-knit small town Saturday with the annual Apple Festival in New Harmony.

For a few years now I've wanted to drive the Crestline Road between Enterprise and Panaca.

ST. GEORGE - Drug enforcement officers have arrested additional suspects after breaking up marijuana grows on the southeast side of Pine Valley Mountain.

Drug enforcement agents broke up marijuana grows on Pine Valley Mountain on Thursday and arrested five men on federal charges.

Crews made gains on two fires in central and southern Utah on Wednesday, including the Mill Flat fire that destroyed three homes and damaged eight buildings over the weekend.

NEW HARMONY - Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lifted a flash flood watch Saturday afternoon for the town of New Harmony and surrounding areas in the wake of changes to the landscape from the Mill Flat Wildfire on Pine Valley Mountain.

I have become deeply disturbed regarding the results of the fire near New Harmony.

A firefighter points a gun at the enemy. Crack! A projectile zips across a canyon and a shower of sparks explode in a thick tangle of dangerously dry scrub.

As crews get the upper hand on the Mill Flat fire that has scorched more than 12,000 acres and destroyed or burned nearly a dozen structures in New Harmony, officials are preparing to handle flood waters cascading down burned mountain slopes.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert flew over this southern Utah town Sunday afternoon where about 150 residents remain evacuated because of fire concerns.

The Mill Flat Fire has destroyed multiple homes and other structures after moving into the New Harmony area Saturday afternoon, but officials have yet to determine the depth of the damage as the blaze continues to threaten homes in the region.

New Harmony was a forest fire waiting to happen. The state knew that in 2008 when a fire assessment of 600 Utah communities rated the Washington County town's risk at 11 on a scale of one to 12.

Calling it an "all hands on deck" situation, Gov. Gary Herbert said firefighting resources from all over the state and the Mountain West, including a couple of hundred Type 1 wildfire crews, will be on hand today to battle an out-of-control wildfire that destroyed nearly a dozen structures in the town of New Harmony over the weekend.

A New Harmony volunteer fire fighter, Scott Pace, said in a phone interview late Saturday that he came within 100 feet of the flames in the Mill Flat Fire that reached the outskirts of New Harmony in the early evening hours.

A lightning-caused wildfire burning in the Pine Valley Wilderness area for more than a month has blackened more than 6 square miles, threatened hundreds of homes and prompted authorities to order many residents to evacuate this small Utah town.

A dispatcher with the Washington County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that parts of the city of New Harmony are under evacuation orders due to a wildfire burning east of town.

The Mill Flat fire burning in the Pine Valley wilderness area is now 970 acres in size.

CEDAR CITY - The smell of smoke over Cedar City has been coming on the wind from both the north and south, as the Mill Flat fire in the Pine Valley wilderness area and the Greenville Bench fire in Beaver County burn simultaneously.

The Color Country Retired School Employees Association will be hosting a social to commemorate the opening of the school year.