As of Aug. 22, the 16,500-acre Rocky Canyon Fire west of Henefer had cost $6.2 million, according to the Northern Utah Type III Incident Management Team spokesperson Sierra Hellstrom.
The cash-strapped North Summit Fire District won’t need to pitch in for that.
Battalion Chief Tyler Rowswer said North Summit fire will be reimbursed for costs related to the Rocky Canyon Fire. He won’t know the total amount until filing the paperwork.
“This fire you know started on state grounds, so it is a state fire. The state has full responsibility for this fire, everything from managing it and financially,” he told KPCW.
The human-caused Rocky Canyon Fire was first reported Aug. 7 on the north side of state Route 66 in Morgan County. Initial growth was slow, but two days later it made a six-mile run east and jumped state Route 65.
The fire forced the evacuation of more than 500 people in and around Henefer, plus thousands of livestock.
As the fire dies down, local firefighters will take over monitoring and oversight. That will fall to Morgan County since the fire started on that side of the county line.
Rowser said North Summit fire helped protect specific homes rather than fighting the fire itself. State firefighters also called on other local departments to help, and Rowser said 20 or so responded.
The North Summit Fire District’s three fire stations also remained fully staffed during the incident. Rowser says there were medical calls during that time, but no other fires.
“We just have such great people working for us, that they dropped everything,” he said. “One guy dropped everything and brought his camper trailer because he knew it was going to be a long-duration thing, so that the extra people we had coming in, they at least had somewhere to sleep.”
Donations streamed in from the community. At one point, Rowser says North Summit firefighters had more food than they could eat.
Fire Chief Ben Nielson began asking residents to donate to the fledgling nonprofit Friends of North Summit Fire instead.
The fire was 96% contained as of Aug. 22. The state expects full containment might not happen for days or weeks.
The public is asked to stay out of the burn scar since crews may still be working in certain areas.
“We may see smoke on this incident until we get snow on the ground, just because of the terrain,” Rowser said. “It's not safe to put people in those rock faces of the mountainside there.”
The state says the Rocky Canyon Fire no longer poses a threat to nearby communities.
