Firefighters are close to fully containing the Rocky Canyon Fire after a weekend of successful operations, but officials are reminding residents and visitors that there are still dangerous conditions in the area.

The Rocky Canyon Fire stretched 16,464 acres and was 85% contained as of Tuesday morning, according to Utah Fire Info. However, state officials noted that progress may be limited over the next few days as teams work to balance containment efforts while keeping firefighters safe.

“Every tactical decision is grounded in a careful assessment of fire behavior, terrain, weather and available resources,” officials said. “While aggressive action can offer strategic advantages, no operational objective outweighs firefighter lives and safety. The team will continue to engage with the fire in ways that allow crews to work effectively and without undue exposure.”

Officials said first responders are prioritizing the containment of flames in Bishop’s Canyon to prevent the fire from progressing farther this week. Crews will patrol the area and ensure the fire doesn’t spread to private property.

However, Utah Fire Info said in a press release that “gusty and erratic winds” were expected Tuesday afternoon, which could affect fire behavior and force crews to pivot to other suppression strategies.

“This is why firefighters completed firing operations in advance of the wind shift to build a strong control line to hold the fire,” officials said.

S.R. 65 and S.R. 66 both reopened to the public on Monday evening, but officials asked residents to remain cautious because of debris on the road. Drivers should also watch out for mudslides as moisture returns to the area, according to Utah Fire Info.

“Entrances to the Wildlife Management Area and the north entrance of East Canyon State Park will remain closed,” officials added. “East Canyon Reservoir is closed to motorized boating but is open to non-motorized activities accessed at the south entrance.”

Henefer residents who evacuated were allowed to return to their homes last week after an increase in humidity and cloud cover helped curtail the fire’s progress. Officials last week told community members that cleanup efforts will likely take a few weeks.

The Summit County community has rallied to support local and state firefighters working to contain the blaze, posting signs and words of encouragement along the border of the fire area. 

Parkite Michelle Rankin also hosted a letter-writing campaign at the Park City Municipal and Athletic Recreation Center last week. She estimated dozens if not hundreds of people stopped to write a note of support for first responders, which she delivered to a fire station in Henefer for firefighters to read during their lunch break.

“It’s really pulling people together,” Rankin said in a previous interview with The Park Record. “In Summit County, we know our firefighters and our Sheriff’s Office, and we want to show our neighboring towns and counties that we’re here.”

Rankin and those who stopped to write a letter said the outpouring of love and support is a sign that Park City and Summit County have strong, passionate communities.

“It’s kindness, it’s love and it’s compassion,” Rankin said. “This is a place where I think people think about others first, so people want to come together and do something.”

Information on the Rocky Canyon Fire is available through the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Utah Fire Info and by visiting tinyurl.com/ym2jtc36.

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Fire crews have seemingly stopped the Rocky Canyon Fire from spreading to Henefer, but officials say the mop up may take several weeks to complete.

The fire spanned 15,662 acres and was 40% contained as of Friday morning. Henefer residents who evacuated the area were allowed to return to their homes on Thursday, but the Summit County Sheriff’s Office warned that the blaze is still active and could require further evacuations as the situation evolves.

Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates said the department’s priority is keeping residents safe, which includes protecting them from new debris and flooding risks. She said officials are committed to keeping the community updated and monitoring developments closely.

“We want to mention that S.R. 65 will remain closed, and the only people who will be allowed up into that area are residents,” Bates said during Thursday’s community meeting on the fire. “This is for fire crews’ safety. … They’re up there on the fire, so we want to make sure that we have the roads clear for them. They know where they are, and they can come around those turns quickly, and we want to make sure there aren’t any accidents up there.”

Officials said an increase in humidity and cloud cover has helped curtail the fire’s progress, but this week’s storms haven’t made as much of an impact as crews would have hoped. The most problematic area of the fire is the northern edge, which is on steep, rugged terrain, making it difficult for firefighters to attack.

Cleanup efforts will likely take a few weeks, and surrounding roads will remain closed as long as crews are working on the fire. Officials said firefighters will soon camp near the fire to tackle the blaze on foot, and aircraft will be called to support the scene as soon as the weather clears.

“People coming into the fire area are putting themselves into a hazardous situation, and if they are up on the roads and the trail systems up there, they could potentially be putting our firefighters in a hazardous situation as well,” said Jason Bolo, the incident commander. “We don’t want folks coming in with their UTVs and coming nose to nose with a giant crew buggy or a water tender or an engine.”

Bolo said residents traveling within the fire area are also dangerous because they can interfere with, and possibly halt, aircraft operations.

“If we have tankers coming in and we have community members who are out there, those community members don’t have a radio, so we cannot communicate with them,” Bolo said. “We’ve had to divert several tanker drops over the last couple of days because of community members who are in there. Please stay out of there. I cannot emphasize enough that we’re going to be in there for a while.”

North Summit Fire District Battalion Chief Tyler Rowser, who was born and raised in Summit County, said the outpouring of love and support for first responders has been heartwarming to see.

“This has been incredibly stressful for us, just like you guys,” Rowser said. “This is something we didn’t want to see in our community. We watched it in other parts of the state this year and hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t hit here, but it did. It’s been great to see the support for us during this time and for working with us for the evacuation process. We’ve seen so many donations from community members and people outside of our community, and we’re thankful for that.”

Rowser reassured residents that the North Summit Fire District has staffed its stations to respond to other emergencies, and he reminded the community not to call 911 to report smoke or flames within the fire area.

“We are grateful for the signs of support that we’ve seen out along the roads,” Rowser added. “We love this community, especially me. I told my guys the other day that they were literally protecting my brother’s house. I had a brother who was evacuated, so they’re doing this for my family, and I consider you all my family.”

Fire officials on Friday morning said the area had received moisture overnight, but they noted winds had the potential to push heat into unburned fuel pockets. Predicted moisture over the weekend may help, but it could also make the steep terrain even more dangerous for ground crews.

Echo Reservoir is open for recreational use, but officials urged residents and visitors to stay aware of aircraft and operations within the fire zone. The south end of East Canyon Reservoir is also open, but the northern end and main campground are closed.

“A helicopter mapping mission is planned (Friday) to more accurately capture the fire perimeter,” officials said. “Updated mapping will also help refine operation tactics and ensure resources are directed to priority areas. Crews will continue strengthening control lines, monitoring active pockets and adjusting tactics based on any incoming weather. While direct suppression work is the priority, crews will begin repair work in areas of containment if it is safe to do so.”

Information on the Rocky Canyon Fire is available through the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Utah Fire Info and by visiting tinyurl.com/ym2jtc36.

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Summit County residents who had to evacuate because of the Rocky Canyon Fire may return to their homes as of Thursday afternoon, but officials warned that the blaze is still active and community members should be prepared for the situation to change.

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office announced that all affected neighborhoods in Henefer have been moved from the “GO” status to the “SET” status. The “GO” status orders an immediate evacuation of the area while the “SET” status means residents should be prepared to leave if fire conditions shift.

“While this is an important step forward, this change does not mean the threat from the fire has passed,” the department said. “Even in areas where there is currently no active fire, the ground, vegetation and other fuels can remain incredibly hot for an extended period of time. With the right wind conditions, these areas can reignite and quickly develop into an active fire.”

The Sheriff’s Office said there are also flooding and debris risks near the burn scar, but emergency management personnel are working to mitigate the danger and are “prepared to respond.”

The human-caused Rocky Canyon Fire spans 15,662 acres near Henefer and is 29% contained as of Thursday.

Fire officials said the area did not receive as much moisture as they would have hoped despite the rain showers peppering parts of Utah this week. Cloud cover has helped moderate fire behavior, but crews have continued to “encounter active heat,” especially in steep and wooded areas.

“Firefighters are moving carefully through steeper terrain where last night’s rain — combined with ongoing fire activity — has created unstable footing and occasional rolling debris,” officials said. “Direct work along (the) established dozerline is continuing where conditions are safe. Ground crews remain focused on strengthening (the) indirect line.”

Lightning and winds remain a concern as first responders work to contain the fire. Officials said managers are tracking storms closely and plan to adjust operations depending on weather and safety needs.

Information on the Rocky Canyon Fire is available through the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Utah Fire Info and by visiting tinyurl.com/ym2jtc36. 

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Dozens of Park City residents gathered on Wednesday morning to write letters thanking firefighters and first responders for their efforts to contain the Rocky Canyon Fire near Henefer.

“I’ve been listening to some of the updates from the incident command on the local news, and one of the questions asked by a reporter was, ‘What can the community do to help out at this time?’” said Michelle Rankin, a Park City resident who organized the event. “The commander mentioned notes, letters, things they can put in meal bags that are delivered to the first responders, and I just thought, ‘Well, that’s easy. We can do that.’”

Rankin called the Park City Council to help spread the word, and the Park City Municipal and Athletic Recreation Center gave her permission to set up a table in front of the building. With cards, stickers and markers in hand, Rankin asked each PC MARC patron if they’d be willing to write a note of appreciation for local firefighters.

“Many people have left their phone numbers and their names and said, ‘Let us know if something comes up and you do this again or if there’s another need,’” Rankin said. “It’s really pulling people together, and I love it. In Summit County, we know our firefighters and our Sheriff’s Office, and we want to show our neighboring towns and counties that we’re here.”

Rankin had the station set up from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., and she estimated dozens, if not hundreds, of people had written cards in those three hours. She said the outpouring of love and support is a sign that Park City and Summit County have strong, passionate communities.

“It’s kindness, it’s love and it’s compassion,” Rankin said. “This is a place where I think people think about others first, so people want to come together and do something.”

Halie Allphan, who participated in the campaign, said she wanted to write a letter on behalf of her coworker whose brother is a firefighter responding to the incident.

“She was telling me about the stuff that they were having to do, like being out on a bulldozer right next to the planes,” Allphan said. “It’s just terrifying, and they’re very selfless.”

Kathy DeRue, another Park City resident who stopped to write a letter, called the Rocky Canyon Fire a “tragedy,” but she praised the Summit County community for supporting each other, especially displaced Henefer residents.

“They just want to help their neighbors, which has been, in some ways, a silver lining coming out of the tragedy of the fires this summer, not just in Summit County but across Utah,” DeRue said. “It’s been a hard summer here, but we’ve really seen some good come out of it. I think that’s been an inspirational lesson for us all.”

The Rocky Canyon Fire is 25% contained and stretches more than 15,300 acres as of Wednesday morning, according to Utah Fire Info. Officials said they’re hopeful an increase in humidity and cloud cover will help firefighters curtail the blaze.

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Monday evening, east side Summit County residents met at the North Summit High School auditorium in Coalville, and over Zoom, for an update on the fast-growing Rocky Canyon Fire.

Over 300 who logged on virtually at the start of the meeting joined around 60 in-person attendants. TV cameras and their operators lined the back row like snipers, pointed at a map of the fire footprint projected over the stage. 

Husband and wife Steve and Julie, Coalville residents, were in the crowd. While the two hadn’t needed to evacuate, the fire had burned through some range land they own in Franklin Canyon near Henefer.

When they saw the smoke column get closer Saturday from their front porch, they ran over to Henefer to see what was going on. They’d leased the land for sheep grazing, and when the couple showed up, the shepherds were trying to get the animals moved from up on the Henefer Divide, which separates East Canyon from Franklin Canyon.

Then the fire jumped S.R. 65, and started moving fast, Julie said. Thankfully, the sheep got of and they moved their expensive equipment in time. But after the fire came through, it was decimated.

“Everything that burnt was right down to the ground. There’s not even a ghost tree. It’s just annihilated, that’s how hot it was,” Julie said. 

She said from the base of Franklin Canyon, their car was covered in ash the size of golf balls.

“I went over and touched it. It wasn’t hot, but it was warm. It had white edges,” she said. “It’s those embers that jump.”

The fast-moving fire behavior on Sunday pushed the footprint from 4,000 acres to an estimated 15,000 by Monday morning. And like many of the residents tuning in to the community meeting, Steve and Julie wanted to know if that might happen again.

Mike Tatishi, the operations section chief for the Northern Utah Type 3 Incident Management Team, started the meeting with a rundown of the fire since it began Friday off S.R. 66 in Morgan County. 

While crews did their best to hold the fire at around 150 acres that first afternoon, weather shifts pushed the blaze to the northeast toward Hogsback Summit, and it crossed the county line by Sunday morning. 

From the southern end, which is the “heel,” around toward Hogsback saw some successful firing operations, Tatishi said, so his team is feeling confident in that area. 

“Things are looking really good on the south end. Then we’ll just continue to hook around and go in as direct as we can and keep the fire footprint as small as we can,” he said.

Toward the front, Division Tango is the edge of the fire moving toward Henefer pushed by strong afternoon winds. In that area on Monday, Tatishi said firefighting resources have included dozers, aviation, engines and hand crews. Activity had been “fairly favorable.”

“As it gets down a little bit further to the north in some more favorable country, we can get after it with the heavy equipment,” he said. “We’ll continue those operations through the night.” 

Division Whiskey is the east side of the fire, which is moving toward Coalville, he said.

“We had folks out there today poking around and looking for access points and where we’re going to hang up this fire here on the east side,” Tatishi said. “That’ll be a big shift in resources tomorrow over there to assist out in Division Whiskey.”

Incident Commander Garrett Nielsen said they have resources coming in from across the country, including help from the National Guard, and he assured residents that they were doing as much as possible.

“What makes fires challenging is if the communities aren’t supportive, but you guys have been amazing to work with,” he said. “Without you guys’ support, honestly, it makes this task really daunting. And the firefighters feel it.”

Nielsen said in some cases the offer of support, like volunteering to go out with the firefighters or donating food or money, is well meant but not helpful. Much better to give that time and money to the evacuees who have been displaced, he said.

“We’re taken care of. We do this day in and day out, and so take care of yourselves and let us support you with what we do on our day-to-day jobs,” he said.

Looking ahead, weather forecasts are “spicy,” Nielsen said, with potential rain systems with thunder cells that can produce gusty winds.

“When those come over, we typically don’t know which way the winds are going to go,” he said. “With the ones we’ve been seeing lately, we’re thinking one thing, and it does the exact opposite.” 

So far no structures have been reported lost, Nielsen said. 

Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates addressed the evacuations, which were extended in Henefer Monday afternoon to include the homes west of Main Street.

“As your sheriff, I want everyone to know when it comes to evacuations that I do not take that lightly. I know it’s very serious, and I do not like displacing residents. But it’s with the utmost caution that when we do send those evacuations, we have talked about it with all of our partners, and we feel that that is the decision that is right for the community members,” she said.

She gave a rundown of the areas of the county that were in either “Ready,” “Set” or “Go” status.

In the next speech, North Summit Fire Chief Ben Nielson assured residents that their stations are still fully staffed to help with any other emergencies that may happen in his district, which he called “incidents within incidents.”

He said with the other fires across the state, like the 120,000-acre Widemouth Fire in central Utah, that resources are spread thin. So he asked people to “help us help you” by staying safe and avoiding the area if possible.

Summit County Councilor Tonja Hanson ended the meeting with a series of thank yous to the crews, volunteers and community members who have come together to help.

Fire officials stayed after to answer any questions from the in-person attendees, who mostly wanted information on what to expect, or if any new evacuation alerts would be sent out soon. All they could say is “hard to know” and “safety is a priority.”

For updates from Summit County: tinyurl.com/ke375sd3.

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The Summit County Sheriff’s Office declined to issue a correction for an emergency alert that mistakenly pinged cellphones outside the Rocky Canyon Fire evacuation area because officials didn’t want to confuse residents who needed to leave their homes.

On Sunday afternoon, the law enforcement agency sent an alert notifying Henefer residents of an evacuation order spurred by the Rocky Canyon Fire. However, residents in other parts of Summit County and Salt Lake County also received the message, which led to confusion about the fire’s scope and affected neighborhoods.

The Sheriff’s Office in a press release said the department “did not have a complete understanding of what had occurred” at the time and initially believed the notification had reached its intended audience.

“The notification dashboard available to us was indicating that only 107 phones had received the alert, while information coming back from the community indicated that the alert had reached phones well beyond the intended geographic area,” the press release said. “This discrepancy made it difficult to determine the actual scope of the issue and who may have received the alert.”

The press release explained the Sheriff’s Office decided not to send a second alert correcting the mistake to avoid creating “even greater confusion.”

“Our concern was that people who needed to evacuate could receive conflicting information and mistakenly believe the evacuation order no longer applied to them,” the press release said. “While we recognize that the initial (alert) caused significant confusion for many residents, our decisions were guided by one priority: protecting human life and preventing further confusion for those who needed to evacuate.”

The agency has reviewed its alert system and said “everything appears to be functioning properly” as of Monday afternoon, but the program’s software technicians have been notified of the incident “to ensure the system is functioning properly on their end.”

The press release called the mistake an “isolated occurrence” and indicated the Sheriff’s Office will continue using the alert system as the Rocky Canyon Fire unfolds. However, the department plans to undertake “a more comprehensive investigation” into the accidental notification “when circumstances allow.”

The Sheriff’s Office acknowledged the fear and confusion the alert caused for many residents and apologized for the situation, saying the department is committed to uncovering what happened and addressing any unresolved issues.

“We understand how unsettling it was for residents to receive an emergency alert that did not apply to their location,” the press release said. “We know our community must have confidence in both the emergency alerting system and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office’s ability to effectively manage and communicate during an emergency. We take that responsibility seriously and do not want this incident to undermine that trust in any way.”

The Sheriff’s Office also shares information on wildfires and other public safety emergencies online, and the department reminded residents to check the county website and social media pages for updates. 

Details on the Rocky Canyon Fire, including community meetings and evacuation orders, are available by visiting tinyurl.com/4yptafas.

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