The fire in northeastern Wasatch County has grown to 29,730 acres since it sparked Sept. 28. Firefighters reached 23% containment Sunday.
At a community meeting in Kamas Sunday afternoon, leaders said they’re keeping a close eye on the weather and working to secure more of the fire’s perimeter.
California Interagency Incident Management Team Two has been managing operations since Oct. 9.
Curtis Coots, the incident commander for the fire, said it is a large wildfire for the number of personnel on site.
“With 800+ resources right there, it’s not like we can join hands around the entire fire and put the fire out,” he said. “So, we’ve got to be very strategic with these values at risk and where we’re putting firefighters – and, of course, keeping in consideration responder safety and exposure.”
He said priorities include the northern boundary of the fire and the North and West Forks of the Duchesne River.
The town of Hanna in Duchesne County is under a “set” order and must be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.
The Granddaddy Lakes area of Ashley National Forest has been evacuated.
And Summit County Emergency Management issued new mandatory evacuations Thursday night for the area north of Mirror Lake Highway.
Mirror Lake Highway remains open for now. Crews are trying to prevent the fire from reaching the road. Highway 35 is closed.
So far, most of the containment is on the southwest side of the blaze, not a direct threat to towns like Kamas and Samak for now.
But some locals wonder how worried they should be. Robyn Anderson lives in Timber Lakes, west of the fire. She told KPCW it’s the most scared she remembers feeling about a wildfire in Utah.
“We’re starting our list of what should we take with us,” she said. “And the ‘ready, set, go’ that he was talking about – is that, like, ‘ready, set, go’ in two hours or two days?”
She’s referring to wildfire evacuation protocols like those in Duchesne County.
But she said attending Sunday’s meeting in Kamas and seeing containment near her neighborhood was reassuring.
Still, weather over the next several days could pose a challenge for fire crews’ efforts.
Dave Whittekiend, the forest supervisor for Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, said personnel are most concerned about wind aggressively spreading the fire north.
“With this front coming in, we’re not sure how much wind might be on it, but we’re predicting winds from the south,” he said. “If it really gets a head of steam behind it, it could easily spot right over the Mirror Lake Highway and then be off to the races.”
He said he’s being extra cautious with forest closures, despite feedback from frustrated hunters and campers, because he doesn’t want crews to have to worry about emergency evacuations.
“Personally, I would much rather have to answer for that closure [that] was really big and it never made it there, as opposed to somebody died because we didn’t evacuate that area,” he said.
Another public meeting is scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. at the Tabiona high school in Duchesne County.
