A fire in Bountiful, Utah, has forced evacuations of at least 400 homes

A wildfire was burning Friday morning near a city just north of Utah’s capital, forcing mandatory evacuations of at least 400 homes, police said.

An officer on patrol discovered the fire around 1 a.m. Friday as it burned down a hillside toward some homes in Bountiful, a city of about 50,000 people roughly 10 miles north of Salt Lake City, Bountiful police Lt. Dave Edwards said.

That officer’s report led to the evacuations and saved lives, Edwards said.

At least eight homes have caught fire, three of which are destroyed, Edwards said. At one burned home, only a chimney remained, he said.

The blaze burned about 160 acres by mid-morning. No injuries have been reported.

The fire was pushed early Friday by winds of about 30 mph, Edwards said.

A day earlier, the National Weather Service had warned the area had a high fire risk, in part because of the possibility of lightning during hot and dry conditions.