The northern Summit County town of about 1,000 watched anxiously Monday as smoke billowed from the hills to the west.
Tyler Hammond, 16, who lives on the south side of town, hadn’t had to prepare for an evacuation before.
“Last night we set watch times to just look over that hill and see if the fire is there,” he said Monday morning. “We woke up every two hours, so we're just watching it.”
Officials began expanding the evacuation area into Henefer proper that same afternoon.
The Rocky Canyon Fire, first reported Aug. 7 near East Canyon Reservoir, had grown to 15,500 acres with 0% containment.
The hot afternoon temperatures and strong westerly winds fueled the fire’s advance, says Sierra Hellstrom, the spokesperson for the fire crews working on the blaze.
“With the conditions that we're seeing this summer in Utah, it's not taking much for the fires to make a run,” Hellstrom said.
She says it is not clear if any structures have been lost in the blaze. Officials have said the fire is human-caused.
Residents lined Main Street in Henefer Monday to watch the smoke column. Carl Miller from Coalville remembers stories from wildfires when he worked for the U.S. Forest Service.
“The guys on the fire crew, they'd come back from the fires and tell us about these trees when they go up and crown out. They said it's the most terrifying thing you've ever been around, how quick it happens, and the radiant heat off it's just unimaginable,” Miller said.
His son’s family was one of the first to evacuate the Henefer area and went to stay with relatives in Evanston, Wyoming. The main evacuation shelter was the Coalville LDS Church stakehouse at 40 N. Main Street.
Blaine Blonquist was touring the farmland around Henefer on his bike Monday morning. He told KPCW evacuating his horses could be difficult if he were ordered to leave.
Nearby ranchers were already moving donkeys, sheep, cattle and other livestock out of the hills. Authorities had set up a livestock evacuation center near Morgan.
Coulter Ferry was watching the fire from a distance at his home across Interstate 84 and the Weber River from Henefer.
“We hooked on some horse trailers and ran into town, and we were helping people get all their belongings out of their houses and moving livestock around for people,” he said. “Which is an awesome part of this community because everybody's willing to help.”
Hammond has also seen his community rally together.
“Once we got all our stuff packed, we went down the road and went to our friend's house to see how they were doing if they needed any help,” Hammond said. “But there was already a whole bunch of people already doing the same thing as we were, so it’s really great.”
This is a developing story. Click here for the latest on the Rocky Canyon Fire.
