Henefer told to evacuate as Rocky Canyon Fire picks up in intensity again

HENEFER, Summit County — A Wasatch Back town is being evacuated as a precaution as a fast-growing wildfire begins to pick up in intensity again.

Henefer, west of Main Street between East Canyon Road and South Henefer Road, is being evacuated after the Rocky Canyon Fire began pushing back toward the community, the Summit County Sheriff's Office alerted Monday afternoon.

"We have determined that we have hit the trigger point to start evacuation of Henefer proper, not just the east side like we had before," said Sierra Hellstrom, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service, in a briefing that was cut short because of the new threats.

The fire is now estimated to have burned 15,500 acres and remains 0% contained.

A community meeting took place at North Summit High School (111 E. 100 South in Coalville) Monday night. A temporary shelter is also being set up at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse located at 40 N. Main in Coalville.

At the meeting, Imogene Calderwood, who found herself among the latest evacuees, said the experience has been scary and that she left before the knock at the door telling her to evacuate.

"I hope the town is saved, you know, from this," she said.

Calderwood said she remains optimistic despite all of the uncertainty.

"We have a lot of beautiful homes in Henefer, and I hope they don't get destroyed," she said.

Community leaders at the meeting said the decision to evacuate wasn't taken lightly but was the best option in the end.

"As your sheriff, I want everyone to know when it comes to evacuations, that I do not take that lightly," said Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates. "I know it's very serious, and I do not like displacing families, but it's with the utmost caution that when we do send those evacuations, we have talked about it — all of our partners — and we feel that's the decision that's right for the community members."

Part of why the evacuations proved crucial was to open up roads for emergency vehicles fighting the fire, Hellstrom said at the meeting.

The update came after Northern Utah Type 3 Incident Management Team crews were able to stop the fire from reaching East Canyon Dam and a few other key areas between Sunday and Monday.

However, Hellstrom warned Monday morning that the fire continued to threaten "quite a few" structures, while also having potential impacts on many livestock in the area, as well as the junction between I-80 and I-84.

After the fire slowed early Monday, she said firefighters were also concerned about afternoon conditions. Stormy activity has developed over the Wasatch Back and Uinta Mountains with winds generally moving in from the south and southwest, said KSL meteorologist Devan Masciulli.

Crews were cautiously optimistic after fire activity slowed toward the end closest to Henefer, but the wind has pushed the fire to the north and east, closer toward Henefer and areas near Franklin Canyon.

Areas south of the canyon to Icy Springs/Wohali Way were also elevated to "set" status for potential evacuations, per the Summit County Sheriff's Office, meaning residents should prepare for potential evacuations.

"As much as we had our due diligence and worked extremely hard this morning to be able to hold this line, we knew this wind was coming in," Hellstrom said. "With the conditions that we're seeing this summer in Utah, it's not taking much for the fires to make a run."

There are no known structure losses at this point, and crews have helped farmers and ranchers evacuate their livestock, she added.

FEMA authorizes funds

Meanwhile, the state is getting federal assistance as it attacks the fire. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Monday that it has approved Utah's Fire Management Assistance Grant application, authorizing federal funds to help with costs associated with battling the fire.

More than 150 homes or other buildings have been threatened by the Rocky Canyon Fire since it broke out on Friday, according to FEMA, which approved similar requests for other major fires in the state this year.

The grant doesn't provide any assistance to any private structure loss or infrastructure damage caused by the fire, but it allows Utah to receive up to 75% of its eligible firefighting costs.

That's important because this fire year figures to be an expensive one for Utah. Over 800 fires have now started across the state since the year began, burning more than 514,000 acres. It's the state's second-most acreage lost to fire on record.

No impacts on Widemouth 2 Fire operations

Many local fire departments have assisted Rocky Canyon Fire operations in Morgan and Summit counties, especially when the conditions worsened on Sunday. Firefighters battling the state's largest fire this year don't expect to lose resources as another fire threatens communities.

"We continue to have orders filled. We're seeing our personnel increase on this fire," said Karl Hunt, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, speaking on behalf of Great Basin Team 2, which is managing firefighting operations.

Nearly 800 personnel were assigned to the fire this week, and more were expected as the fire remains one of the top priorities in the region.

But that could change, as large chunks of Utah, Idaho and Nevada remain in preparedness Level 5 over the high fire danger and lack of available resources while even larger fires continue to rage in the Pacific Northwest, Hunt said.

"(We're) still filling those, but there's a lot of fire activity out here in Utah and in the West that is creating that resource competition," he said. "It is an issue we're working through."

The Widemouth 2 Fire has now scorched over 118,000 acres after it was sparked by lightning late last month.

Parts of Millard and Sevier counties remain evacuated, but evacuations in parts of southeast Fillmore were lifted on Monday. Fillmore remains in "set" status for potential evacuations, along with some other parts of the area.

Contributing: Andrew Adams, KSL

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