Crews slow progress of fire in East Canyon, Henefer areas, but 'quite a few' structures threatened

HENEFER, Summit County — Firefighters say they were able to stop a fast-growing wildfire in the Wasatch Back from reaching East Canyon Dam and a few other key areas between Sunday and Monday.

However, the Rocky Canyon Fire continues to threaten "quite a few" structures on Monday, said Sierra Hellstrom, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service. It also has potential impacts on many livestock in the area, as well as the junction between I-80 and I-84, she added during a briefing with reporters on Monday.

"The fire behavior was pretty active overnight. The winds that were predicted did come in, so the fire continued to burn," she said.

Northern Utah Type 3 Incident Management Team crews conducted firing operations that helped slow the fire by state Route 66 in the East Canyon area, Hellstrom said. She added "things look really good" near Henefer after efforts helped slow its growth that was heading toward the community.

It was a difficult task because the fire remained active in the early morning, before conditions improved at about 3 a.m.

The fire, which has mostly burned on state lands, has continued to march east, though, crossing Franklin Canyon. She cautioned it could threaten the freeway junction if it continues in that direction, while the northern end of the fire also remains a concern.

Firefighters are also bracing for potential impacts from storms as another monsoonal wave reaches Utah. It could produce strong wind gusts and dry lightning, which may affect firefighting operations where the fire is active and where it has slowed down.

No changes to evacuations were made Monday morning. Some residents in Morgan and Summit counties were urged to evacuate as strong winds pushed the fire from about 4,000 acres to more than 13,000 acres on Sunday. No known structures have been lost so far, but a review of the area was planned for Monday.

The fire is likely much larger now and remains 0% contained, Hellstrom said. Crews were unable to map the fire overnight but are currently mapping out the fire's size for an update later Monday.

"We're hoping to see some containment, especially around that (SR 66) corridor on the way to Morgan, as well as near East Canyon," she said. "Having said that, we woke up to a different fire this morning than we woke up to (on Sunday). We want to be cognizant of that."

Firefighters are hoping to hold a community meeting about the fire on Monday, but details of that are still being worked on. A community meeting was scheduled on Sunday, but it was canceled over the fire's fast growth that led to evacuations.

No impacts on Widemouth 2 Fire operations

Many local fire departments have assisted operations in Morgan and Summit counties, especially when the conditions worsened on Sunday. Firefighters battling the state's largest fire this year don't expect to lose resources as the other fire threatens communities.

"We continue to have orders filled. We're seeing our personnel increase on this fire," said Karl Hunt, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, speaking on behalf of Great Basin Team 2, which is managing firefighting operations.

Nearly 800 personnel were assigned to the fire to start this week, and more were expected this week as the fire remains one of the top priorities in the region.

But that could change, as large chunks of Utah, Idaho and Nevada remain in preparedness Level 5 over the high fire danger and lack of available resources while even larger fires continue to rage in the Pacific Northwest, Hunt said.

"(We're) still filling those, but there's a lot of fire activity out here in Utah and in the West that is creating that resource competition," he said. "It is an issue we're working through."

The Widemouth 2 Fire has now scorched over 118,000 acres after it was sparked by lightning late last month. Parts of Millard and Sevier counties remain evacuated, while some communities in that area have been asked to prepare to potentially be evacuated.

This story will be updated. To be notified about updates, please click Follow This Story below on the KSL app.

Related topics