All Summit County residents evacuated due to the Rocky Canyon Fire were allowed to return home Thursday afternoon.
Summit County lifted the evacuation order from the western side of Henefer’s Main Street to the Morgan County line around 3:30 p.m.
Authorities stressed the fire is still a threat and urged residents to stay prepared to leave again if conditions change.
Only the north end of East Canyon State Park in Morgan County remained evacuated. The area is inaccessible because of road closures.
Fire officials estimate at least 500 people were under evacuations as the Rocky Canyon Fire grew. Thousands of livestock were moved to safety as well.
Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates thanked residents and all the agencies involved with fighting the fire at a Henefer community meeting Thursday night.
“The collaboration has been truly incredible, and I'm very grateful for everyone who's played a part in keeping our community safe,” she said.
Some within the evacuation area decided not to leave. Summit County Search and Rescue Operations Manager Canice Harte said deputies still knocked on or contacted every home in the evacuation area.
He expressed his gratitude that nobody has been hurt.
“My family, we were evacuated during the Parleys Fire, so I was out of my house for four days,” he said at the meeting. “I remember that first night, it was all kind of adventurous, but it gets old very quickly. So I just wanted to say that we don't take this lightly when we think about evacuations.”
Many evacuees found shelter with friends or family in the close-knit community. The Red Cross said it did not see any visitors at the shelter in Coalville’s LDS Church stake center.
However, Coalville’s Best Western filled about 30 rooms the first two nights of the evacuation order. Front desk manager Mark Madia said the hotel reduced rates to $80 for evacuees.
“Most of them were just trying to hang on to some faith,” he said. “A lot of them kind of knew, maybe, they weren't going to be impacted, but yet they were evacuated just for precautionary sake.”
Fire crews have seen favorable weather in recent days, with cloud cover, cooler temperature and rain.
As of late Thursday, the Rocky Canyon Fire had burned more than 15,600 acres and was 40% contained.
