Sen. Mitt Romney on Thursday cited a harrowing 2021 blaze in the Park City area during a hearing centered on the federal government’s wildfire policies, describing that people who were impacted by the Parleys Canyon Fire were displeased with the situation.

The Republican’s comments about the Parleys Canyon Fire represented just a small segment of the hearing, but they were especially notable in the community where the fire occurred. The blaze charred 541 acres climbing up from Interstate 80 toward the border between Summit County and Salt Lake County. It led to the evacuations of neighborhoods in parts of the Snyderville Basin in one of the most dramatic wildfires in the Park City area in decades. Romney toured the fire zone shortly afterward.

“In 2021, the Parleys Canyon Fire forced the evacuation of 8,000 residents along the Wasatch Front for an extended period of time. And I went and met with people there and they were angry, asking why couldn’t we do a better job preventing these things from happening? And I didn’t have a lot of answers, and we were actually even considering closing down Interstate 80 as a result of that fire,” Romney said in his opening statement on Thursday.

The initial report of what would become the Parleys Canyon Fire in the middle of August involved a brush fire that was described as small at that moment. The Park City Fire District responded, but it was clear early on in the efforts the blaze would prove difficult. The Fire District and an agency from the Salt Lake Valley responded quickly, but air resources were summoned to assist. The firefighting operation coupled with precipitation stopped the spread, and the blaze was essentially contained after six days.

Romney visited the land in late August, in the days after the fire was extinguished. Representatives of Park City-area emergency services, including the Summit County sheriff at the time, Justin Martinez, and Fire District Chief Bob Zanetti accompanied the senator on the visit.

The senator in an interview at the time said the success in the firefighting was a result of all the efforts coming together, including the work that had been undertaken over time in preparation for a fire like the one in 2021. Romney in the interview also talked about the availability of firefighting aircraft shortly after the fire started as being a key to the firefighting effort.

The senator on Thursday addressed the possibilities of the federal role in firefighting.  

“It is a national priority. I recognize that we can’t keep on doing the way we have in the past. We’re going to have to have some changes. It’s going to require additional funding. We may need additional fixed wing aircraft, different monitoring systems, different remediation, different forestry management, different prescribed burns processes. There are a lot of things that we are going to have to do differently than we have in the past,” he said.

The prospects of a large wildfire have long been of concern in the Park City area. A blaze like that could have devastating impacts on the tourism industry in addition to the possibility of loss of life and structures. A risk assessment was crafted for Park City in 2023 covering numerous issues related to the danger.

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Volunteers and workers at Deer Valley Resort brought out the podium and backdrop for the athletes who finished in the Top 3, as Friday night’s portion of the Visa Freestyle International came to a close.

Hundreds of spectators stood in the dark as millions of snowflakes poured down. But before the athletes made it to the podium, a familiar face sporting a dark navy blue 2002 Winter Olympics leather jacket grabbed the microphone.

Fans in attendance at the front of the pack immediately discovered it was Mitt Romney, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics and former Republican presidential candidate. It didn’t take long, however, for the rest of the crowd to catch on once they heard his recognizable voice.

It wasn’t an Olympic event, but Romney, along with his Olympic partner Fraser Bullock and Deer Valley General Manager Bob Wheaton, was there to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Park City played an integral part in hosting the competitions and festivities.

“[The Visa Freestyle International] brought back memories of the great days in 2002,” Romney started off.

He then explained volunteers’ contributions to the 2002 Winter Olympics were vital. Like it was in 2002, the volunteer effort was huge in running the World Cup events at Deer Valley this last weekend. Those efforts, both past and present, did not go unnoticed.

“The volunteers made the Games a Games you will never forget,” Romney continued. “The people of Utah opened their homes, opened their hearts to these athletes in the world. … We love the people here. … Thanks Utah, for these great experiences.”

Deer Valley wasn’t Romney’s only stop during the weekend celebration. He also swung by the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center on Saturday, where the venue was nearing the end of its week-long hosting of the USANA FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships. Romney was again accompanied by Bullock, and he spoke and mingled with the hundreds of crowd members.

Though the well-known businessman and politician only stopped at the Olympic venues for a few hours, the 2002 Winter Games was honored throughout the duration of each marquee event that took place in the area. By hosting such races and competitions, places such as Deer Valley, the Utah Olympic Park and Soldier Hollow have kept up their Olympic-level standards and conditions from 15 years ago.

“There’s no place like this,” Romney said of Deer Valley with Wheaton by his side. “The athlete experience couldn’t be better. Whether you’re just a skier at Deer Valley or whether you’re an athlete who’s a professional like the competitors [on Friday night], Deer Valley makes an experience like no other.”

Being Park City, it’s true that the local venues will continue to host non-Olympic winter sport competitions as long as they are up and running. But should the stars ever align for a second Winter Olympic Games in the area — the idea has been thrown around — they’ll be ready.

“There’s going to be more events coming,” Romney said. “We’re going to get a chance to see more of these great athletes.”

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