Near Bryce Canyon City in Garfield County, Utah — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Fighting Fire with Fire

Photographed by Tom Bosse, June 13, 2025

1. Fighting Fire with Fire Marker

Inscription. On August 25 and September 6, 2018, lighting strikes ignited two separate fires that merged, creating the Lonely / Riggs Fire. Over 2,000 acres in Bryce Canyon and Dixie National Forest burned. Thanks to a proactive forest management program, the park had dedicated years to thinning and pile-burning overcrowded, diseased, and dead trees in this area. The fuel reduction project allowed wildland fire crews to set a controlled "back-burn" fire along this trail, creating a buffer zone to protect nearby structures from the Lonely / Riggs Fire's advance. These management efforts continue throughout the park today, allowing fire to paly a natural role in this ecosystem while also reducing the severity of future fires. [Caption]: Fuel reduction is the selective removal of dead, diseased, and overcrowded trees to reduce wildfire intensity. Debris piles are burned when winter weather permits.

Erected by U.S. Department of the Interior.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Disasters • Parks & Recreational Areas. A significant historical date for this entry is August 25, 2018.

Location. 37° 28.468′ N, 112° 14.307′ W.

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Marker is near Bryce Canyon City, Utah, in Garfield County. It is on Bristlecone Point Loop Trail, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Bryce UT 84764, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Canyon Country

and specifically in Color Country. It is also in the American Mountain West,

on the Colorado Plateau,

and at the Four Corners.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 11 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: A Lasting Legacy (approx. ¼ mile away); Giants of the Sky (approx. 4.9 miles away); A Forest Reborn (approx. 5.9 miles away); What’s in a Name? (approx. 10.1 miles away); Climbing the Grand Staircase (approx. 10.7 miles away); Bryce Amphitheater (approx. 11 miles away); Serial Homesteaders (approx. 11 miles away); The Legend People (approx. 11 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Bryce Canyon

Photographed by Tom Bosse, June 13, 2025

2. Fighting Fire with Fire Marker

City.

Also see . . . Fire History. (Submitted on October 26, 2025, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee.)

Area impacted by the 2018 Lonely / Riggs Fire. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tom Bosse, June 13, 2025

3. Area impacted by the 2018 Lonely / Riggs Fire.

Credits. This page was last revised on October 26, 2025. It was originally submitted on October 26, 2025, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 80 times since then and 53 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 26, 2025, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.