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Tonya Papanikolas ReportingA wildfire is burning tonight in Rose Canyon, just south of Herriman. An artillery shell fired at Camp Williams is being blamed for starting the fire.
It forced people out of their homes, but just before 10:00, they were being allowed back in. As the fire got closer to homes this afternoon, residents started packing up and getting their animals out.
Evan Roth, Lives Near Fire: "It's burned through our neighborhood. As far as we can tell, this guy was just up there, he said it's coming off the ridgeline to right where our houses are."
David Cise, Lives Near Fire: "You know, you have your list of things that if you can grab them in five minutes, you can. But right now, you know, it's just the cat, and so that's our biggest priority."
Some left voluntarily, but by late tonight, firefighters had evacuated 150 people from 50 homes, from the top of the mountain, down to the bottom of the canyon.
Brian Bonner, Helping Evacuate Friends: "And they were evacuating houses on the east side. We have friends on the west side. We brought their kids down and now we're trying to get their horses down."
Because of the rough terrain, firefighters mostly fought the fire from the air. Helicopters dropped water from buckets as planes dropped retardant.
Jay Torgersen, Unified Fire Authority: "It grew very quickly. We've got a strong south wind and so it's been pushing the fire. Yeah, it's been moving very quickly."
Plus, fuels were dry. Crews did hike in closer to the fire, but it was still hard to contain.
Residents say they've seen three fires in this canyon this summer, but that doesn't make it any easier.
Evan Roth: "It's pretty scary. We were just talking about it. It's not if, it' when, you know, when you live up here because there's fires close all the time."
David Cise: "There's a lot of stuff we could lose. But I've got a fire break designed into the property and hopefully that survives."
People are now being allowed back in as the fire is calming down. It did reach the bulldozer lines that fire crews made today, helping calm things down.
As for Camp Williams, they said they try to conduct artillery practice at a time when something like this can't happen, but today the winds kicked up.
Firefighters will work through the night.
