The Summit County government is preparing for the state’s implementation of a new wildfire preparedness law in January, but local officials say they’re still unsure of how the program will work or the impact it will have on residents.

Utah lawmakers passed House Bill 48 last year to mitigate the spread of wildfires in high-risk areas across the state, but the program’s implementation was delayed until Jan. 1, 2027, after the state and local municipalities missed a series of key deadlines outlined in the legislation.

The bill requires the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands to create a statewide map of high-risk areas. Each structure within a high-risk area will receive a rating from an assessor based on the property’s fire hardening measures, such as installing a metal roof or replacing wooden fences with fire-resistant materials.

Property owners will then pay an annual fee between $20 and $100, with the amount determined by the level of preparedness and fire mitigation efforts on the parcel, as well as the structure’s taxable square footage. The funds go back to Forestry, Fire and State Lands to pay for the assessors.

County Manager Shayne Scott said the high-risk map is expected to be released next month, and county staff is preparing to meet the law’s requirements in January, even though they’re not yet sure how assessments will work.

“The state is actually supposed to do the assessments, not only the fees and not only the map,” Scott said. “That’s where we’re wondering, ‘How in the world are they going to do that?’ I think that’s a lot of the delay in implementation because they’re not ready to do what they’ve committed to do, and I think they’ll look to us for assistance.”

Summit County’s only involvement in the process, according to the law, is the collection of fees, which County Treasurer Corrie Forsling will be responsible for. However, Scott said it’s possible the county could be asked to help more down the line.

“If we do have the public clamoring for an assessment from the state of Utah (to lower their fees), if that’s throughout the whole state, I don’t know how they’re going to do that,” Scott said. “It’s not necessarily our problem, but it will be something that I’m sure we’ll have to address on some level. … You’ll do that work, and you’ll be wanting that fee reduced immediately, and I don’t know how soon someone could get to you.”

Park City Fire Chief Peter Emery said the program is meant to help residents obtain and keep homeowners insurance despite the wildfire risks in Utah, but he also expressed skepticism about the state’s ability to implement it.

“It’s to help motivate the citizens of the state of Utah to start taking this wildland issue seriously and assessing that fee for it,” he said. “That being said, we’ll see where this winds up.”

Scott also noted the state Legislature’s hypothesis that encouraging fire hardening could protect Utahns from losing their insurance, but he said he’s not convinced it will work as designed.

“I think there are good intentions,” Scott said. “This is just me speaking, but I wonder about an insurance company taking a map like this and using it in the opposite direction, using it to cancel people’s insurance instead of keeping people on there, which is what I think the intent is.”

South Summit Fire Protection District Chief Scott Thorell said he expects to see more legislative changes to the law in early 2027 because of “significant problems” with how the program works.

“One of the primary problems I see is even if you make improvements on your own property, if your neighbor’s abutting property has not made improvements, then you’re still not going to receive a lower score,” Thorell said. “That’s something that’s really going to cause a lot of tension with our residents.”

Lands and Natural Resources Director Jess Kirby, who volunteered to hold educational sessions on the new law as soon as the county learns more information, said she’s also concerned that residents outside of high-risk areas will think they don’t need to be aware of fire mitigation efforts or fire hardening because of the new map.

“We still need to do mitigation efforts to defeat this catastrophic wildfire risk that we have, so don’t let this be, ‘Oh, I’m not in the red, so I don’t have to do anything,’” Kirby said. “There are still mitigation efforts that we need to keep propelling within our community and educating.”

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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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Mere hours after Gov. Spencer Cox banned fireworks across the state until after the Fourth of July, one city in the Wasatch Back considered designating specific areas for the public to safely discharge fireworks, which would have been allowed under the emergency declaration.

The Heber City Council held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the possibility of allowing the use of fireworks at six public parks from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4.

Wasatch Fire District Chief Eric Hales said at the meeting he would have preferred three or four locations. That’s because Independence Day is typically busy for the Wasatch Fire District, which would not have the bandwidth to send firefighters to monitor the six parks for that entire 12-hour period. 

Instead, the Fire District would have provided 5-gallon water buckets at each park for residents to dispose of fireworks responsibly and put out any small fires if needed. 

Heber City resident Barb Clark supported a citywide fireworks ban.

“I live in the north end, and we have a lot of people that just love their aerials. Cops have been called several times over the years that I’ve lived there. My house gets bombarded with shrapnel the next day, and all this detritus all over the place,” she said. 

Clark said she appreciated the logic of giving people who might set off fireworks anyway a safe place to do so, but that she was skeptical that everyone would follow the rules or even be aware of them in the first place.

The final decision ultimately came down to Mayor Heidi Franco, per Cox’s executive order. 

Franco expressed concern that Heber City would see an influx of visitors wanting to set off fireworks if they were allowed in some locations because fireworks were banned everywhere else in the Wasatch Back. She announced a citywide ban the following morning.

“This beautiful valley and mountains protect us, and now we need to protect them. Plus, your safety is most important,” she said. 

She referred to the city’s encouragement of voluntary water conservation to combat the current drought, saying, “The recent rain is not enough. … Let’s not make our city’s situation worse.”

Despite the ban, several public officials, including city councilors, Hales and Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever predicted fireworks use would likely happen over the holiday anyway.

Sever hails from Hanford, California, where he said fireworks are never allowed. Despite that, he said it was “difficult to enforce” and would likely be even more difficult in Heber City, where public fireworks use is typically allowed over the holiday.

“People aren’t putting on a big show, so by the time we triangulate where these things are going on from the sky, usually, their show’s done. And then, neighbors don’t want to tell on their neighbors,” he said.

Cox’s ban lasts July 2-6. Discharging fireworks in Utah is already illegal all other times, except July 22-25 for Pioneer Day, on Dec. 31 and for Chinese New Year. Cox has not announced the state’s approach to Pioneer Day fireworks. 

Oakley Mayor Steve Wilmoth said Friday the city plans on keeping the fireworks display at the Oakley Rodeo. 

More than 75% of Utah’s wildfires have been human-caused since the beginning of the fire season, according to the governor. 

Wasatch Fire Marshal Clint Neerings said most fires started by fireworks come down to “negligence and/or ignorance,” including people who set them off near vegetation, dispose of them in dumpsters without soaking them in water or discharge an aerial firework that inadvertently launches horizontally instead of vertically.

State forester Jamie Barnes described the quick spread of wildfires due to dry vegetation and the current drought as “unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory.”

Hales agreed with that assessment.

“Coming out of the winter we came out of, and then the fire behavior and all the fires that we’re having in the state, it’s just getting drier and hotter,” he said. “We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve only had a handful of starts within Wasatch County, and they’ve been very small.”

He said wildfire risk is poised to get worse and worse going into July, and that what little moisture the county may receive is “not enough to make a difference.”

Violating Cox’s fireworks ban is punishable by an infraction and a fine of up to $1,000.

More severe punishments apply to areas under Stage 2 Fire Restrictions. Both Wasatch and Summit counties entered into Stage 2 Fire Restrictions on Friday. These restrictions apply to unincorporated state and private lands in both counties. Whether or not to implement Stage 2 Fire Restrictions in individual cities comes down to the decision of the local government. In 2025, Stage 2 Fire Restrictions weren’t implemented statewide until July 31.

The following actions are banned, will be enforced by county law enforcement and are punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine up to $1,000:

• Building, maintaining, attending or using a campfire or stove fire.
• Smoking, except with an enclosed vehicle, trailer, building, developed recreation site or while stopped in an area that is paved or free from dry vegetation.
• Discharging or using any fireworks, tracer ammunition or other pyrotechnic devices, including exploding targets.
• Cutting, welding or grinding metal in areas of dry vegetation.
• Operating a motorcycle, chainsaw, ATV or other small internal combustion engine without an approved and working spark arrestor.

The post Wasatch Back responds to Gov. Cox’s fireworks ban appeared first on Park Record.

The Wildfire Preparedness Fair, a collaborative event sponsored by Wasatch Back homeowners associations, will return this month bigger than ever — and organizers say it’s especially poignant this year. 

The event, scheduled for Saturday, April 25, at Ecker Hill Middle School, is hosted by 11 homeowner associations across Summit and Wasatch counties — up from seven last year.

“If I can pat ourselves on the back for a minute: We realized early that it really is a collective, community effort. It’s not just one HOA. We abut many others in our various communities, so it really is a collective effort. We’ve really doubled down on that notion for this year,” said Angie Kell, an organizer and Glenwild Homeowners Association member.

The event was held at Pinebrook Park last year, but with a better venue, organizers are planning a panel discussion to bring a variety of experts for a conversation.

“Last year, we just had some speakers kind of individually address their topics. This year, we’re doing a panel discussion that … I think is going to be incredible. So it’s a big step forward,” said organizer Pamela Nieroth.

Nieroth, who is part of the education and community outreach subcommittee of the wildfire committee for the Glenwild HOA, said last year’s fair was a chance to get their toes wet.

“We didn’t advertise it widely because we really weren’t sure how it was going to go, how many people we could accommodate,” said Nieroth. “We were so pleased with the results that, this year, we decided to really push the boundary a little bit more.”

A record low snowpack has heightened homeowners’ concerns about an active fire season in the Wasatch Back, especially as the community becomes more aware of the threat of wildfires. But recent legislation also makes the preparedness fair a relevant resource, said Pinebrook Fire Safety Committee Co-Chair Don Brown.

State lawmakers passed House Bill 48 last year in an attempt to mitigate wildfire risks in wildland urban interface areas, or WUIs: zones where human developments overlap open spaces relatively untouched by humans. In the 2026 legislative session, H.B. 41 extended the deadline to comply with last year’s law to Jan. 1, 2027.

The bulk of the legislation is directed toward homeowners, including a new annual fee between $20 and $100 for homeowners within a WUI, with the specific amount determined by the taxable square footage of the property.

The funds will go back to Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands to pay for assessors, who will evaluate properties within the WUI to decide whether homeowners are complying with fire-resistant or “hardened” building requirements.

“I think House Bill 48, and subsequently House Bill 41, have brought an awareness that didn’t exist before. It’s good-intentioned legislation, but it’s going to create its own set of challenges for us to address,” Brown said.

And it’s introduced a lot of confusion, Nieroth said, which is why a big chunk of this year’s fair will focus on clarifying the requirements for the Wasatch Back.

“I think a lot of homeowners have questions about it, and we see this as an opportunity to hear directly from the folks who are knowledgeable: ‘Yes, you’ll need to do this. No, you won’t need to do that. How is the map going to work?’” Nieroth said. “It’s complicated, and there are lots of points of view, and we’d like people to have accurate information.”

Brown said his conversation with panelists should get into the weeds of the legislation. Six experts are invited to the discussion, including Paul Borrup, president of SentryWest Insurance Services; Peter Emery, fire chief of the Park City Fire District; Fielding Norton, executive director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy; Taiga Rohrer of Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands; David Telian of Alpine Forestry; and J. Bradley Washa of Utah State University.

Audience questions will also give attendees the chance to hear directly from industry professionals, and many will be available before and after the discussion for the tabling portion of the event.

Twenty groups will be set up in the lobby of Ecker Hill and ready to share information on home-hardening options or specific services. 

Alpine Forestry, Sav-A-Tree, Apex Fire Protection, SentryWest Insurance Services, Biochar Collective, Summit County Emergency Management, Summit County Open Lands, Utah Open Lands, the Rowland Hall Climate Studies Program and the Wildfire Defense Mesh initiative are some participating organizations.

Kell said the goal is to provide local, readily available solutions for homeowners.

“Let’s say, what are five things that you can do to harden your home?” Kell said. “So we provide the what, and we’re going to provide the who, who can help you do that.”

She also said this year’s fair is intentionally designed to get younger kids involved, from a Girl Scouts-hosted kids station with wildfire-related coloring pages to a demonstration that gives kids the chance to use biochar as chalk. Students from the climate studies program at Rowland Hall will also present information from a school project during the event.

“We made a deliberate effort to cross the generational gap and start educating kids as to wildfire awareness,” she said, “as well as people who are actually doing the work.” 

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and free bagels and cream cheese donated by The Bagel Den will be available in the morning. La Lupe and Chili Spot food trucks will also be on site for lunch. More details can be found on their website posting.

Kell said anyone is welcome to swing by — not just homeowners in participating neighborhoods — because preparedness is a whole community effort. It may sound obvious, but fire doesn’t care about property limits. 

“Everyone recognizes Round Valley is powder already. It’s dirt. The dirt is super dry. And so I think the onus is on us with the wildfire fair to bridge that gap: OK, so what does that mean for you as a homeowner as we look toward wildfire season? And I think that’s really where the rubber meets the road,” Kell said.

It’s not a panic, but a call to action, Brown added. 

“It’s not doom and gloom. It’s just another summer, but we are now paying attention,” he said. “And with this knowledge, this information, we can get ahead of the greater risk later by doing reasonable things now.”

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Multiple homes were threatened by a small wildfire on Highway 35 Wednesday night, according to South Summit Fire District officials.

The blaze started late in the afternoon in the woodland area of Summit County. A motorist with a flat tire pulled over and parked on the dry grass. The wildfire ultimately covered about 4 acres before officials stopped the blaze. The investigation was then turned over to state officials because it started on a state highway.

“The fire moved up the hillside and imminently threatened two houses, and then there were six other structures somewhat threatened,” said South Summit Fire Protection District Chief Scott Thorell.

First responders evacuated two families from the area, but there were no injuries to either civilians or firefighters. One small shed was destroyed, but the Fire District contained the flames before any homes were damaged.

“We had two other calls simultaneously come in, and one turned out to be a serious call, so it took us a little bit to get organized and get people there, but we were able to get on scene and protect the structures and get it out pretty quickly,” Thorell said.

Cleanup efforts stretched overnight with crews finally heading home around 5 a.m. Thursday morning, according to Thorell.

“Last year, our three major fires were all caused by mechanical problems by vehicles, so you should keep your vehicles in good shape,” he added. “And if you have a problem with your vehicle, don’t pull into the grass.”

Approximately 5,659 homes lost power Wednesday night, likely because of the wildfire, according to Summit County Communications Director Derek Siddoway. Power returned around 8:45 p.m.

Utah’s wildfire season typically runs from July to October. Summit County’s fire danger increased to high late last month. Stage one fire restrictions are in place statewide, meaning open burns and fireworks are prohibited.

Summit County residents can text SCFIRE to 91896 for updates on the county’s fire outlook, red flag warnings and fire conditions.

The post Small Highway 35 wildfire threatens homes, causes evacuations appeared first on Park Record.

The gravel parking lot off Interstate 80’s Lambs Canyon exit was unusually full Monday morning, and a loose huddle of people — similarly dressed in dark boots, work pants and light jackets — stood squinting against the sunlight, many holding insulated cups of coffee.

The group, two dozen prescribed fire practitioners connected through the Utah Prescribed Fire Council, had driven from their corners of the state for a biannual field trip, this time showing work done in Summit County. 

Representatives from Utah Department of Natural Resources, their Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, the U.S. Forest Service, Park City Municipal, Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District, Deer Valley Resort, Alpine Forestry, Utah State University and a handful of Summit County-based HOA representatives made up some of the group, there to learn more about prescribed fire work in the Wasatch. 

Originally three stops were on the day’s agenda — Lambs Canyon, Pinebrook and Kamas — but with the Yellow Lake Fire still burning in the Wasatch National Forest, the Kamas visit was deemed unsafe and scratched the night before. 

While the ongoing fire caused a change in plans, it drove home the need for prescribed fire work as a method for wildfire mitigation. For this group, what one attendee called a “prescribed fire advocacy and support group,” that’s preaching to the choir.

Underlying the gathering was the idea of collaboration. Wildfire mitigation work through the use of prescribed fire is only effective if it’s consistent across a landscape, and when the landscapes are broken up into various public and private ownership, each group needs to work together.

Brad Washa, a wildland firefighter of 35 years turned Utah State University professor of wildland fire science and Pinebrook resident, facilitated the field trip. He introduced project managers from the two site visits, who each gave an overview of the work, the objectives and challenges and answered any questions.

Starting in Lambs Canyon, Stuart Bedke with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands spoke about the work in that area as part of the larger plan to link mitigation efforts along the Wasatch, both Front and Back.

Finished for now in Lambs Canyon, Bedke said they’ll next move into Millcreek Canyon, then Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon. The whole process should take about 20 years, he said, and then they’ll come back to Parley’s and start again to continue maintaining the integrity of the project.

The main strategy of discussion was pile burning, conversations ranging from best practices for pile construction to prevent soil sterility, using horses to shuttle fuel up to burn crews to save on labor costs, navigating the public’s and nearby homeowner’s reactions to the project and managing smoke and watershed impacts while burning.

Everyone admitted that, sure, this work couldn’t stop a wildfire sparked during the driest part of the summer, fueled by extreme winds, but it would give responders a fighting chance in most other cases.

Plenty of the foresters looked around with nods of approval — the forest looks healthy, standing dead trees and dry, overgrown brush cleared out to open up the space, plenty of aspen regeneration and new growth speckling the blackened earth or “burn footprints.”

The next stop was Pinebrook for a two-part discussion in a Wilderness Urban Interface. Alpine Forestry co-owner David Telian spoke about their work both along highly-trafficked trails and on homeowner property, and Pinebrook’s Fire Safety Committee Co-Chair Don Brown talked about incentivizing and informing residents on the importance of wildfire mitigation work. 

Hiking up into the network of private trails for Pinebrook residents, Telian pointed out areas where their crews completed projects last fall. Washa joked that residents in the homes across from the hill even sat on their porches and watched them work.

“We didn’t close the trails or the sites or anything while we were implementing,” said Telian. “When people can come up and just visit you and talk, it really goes a long way. And the people we interacted with in Pinebrook here, every now and then (had) a skeptical question, but for the most part were just thrilled with the work. They hike these trails routinely. They see the changes over time, and they’re really positive interactions.”

Part of that positive public feedback was due to the HOA’s work of informing residents on the wheres, whens and whys of the projects.

Just like the work in Lambs Canyon required collaboration between state, federal and private agencies, Pinebrook’s work to fortify their land against wildfires relies on collaboration between homeowners’ associations and private landowners.

The last stop of the day was to see the work a Pinebrook resident had done in their 3-acre plot.

Alpine Forestry, a private wildfire-risk management company, has been working in Summit County for five years now, Telian said.

“A couple years ago we identified this lack of multi-agency notification,” he said. “So we implemented a countywide disclosure (process) … that automatically gives a notification to a bunch of crucial players.” A smattering of applause, murmurs and head-nods interrupted him briefly. “That’s been a huge tool for our local area in our practitioner and agency circle.”

Communication is key to collaboration, which is key to ready communities for the threat of a wildfire — the group left reminded and reinvigorated.

Hot, dry conditions this fall mean mitigation burn seasons are still on hold, and emergency response teams deployed to hurricane-hit areas of the country have put projects on pause, too. But there’s still plenty of work that can happen in the meantime.

The post Field trip in Summit County reminds fire officials of the need for collaboration appeared first on Park Record.

Tuesday’s rain, and even a bit of snow, could transform the Elizabeth Ridge Fire near Fish Lake from a weeks-long inferno into a blaze that burns for just a few days.

The fire was first reported around 2 p.m. on Saturday in the Uinta Mountains, north of North Slope Road and west of Lyman, Wyoming. As of Wednesday, the Elizabeth Ridge Fire was 20% contained with 105 acres burned.

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest spokesperson Toby Weed said the initial location was close to the roadway, but winds picked up the fire and caused the blaze to spread east quickly through heavy timber. At least 15 county fire trucks, two Forest Service engines, four helicopters, multiple hand crews and almost 100 people total were working on the fire.

“It was a full-on firefight,” Weed said.

Air support retrieved water from nearby Fish Lake to drop it on the fire, which ensured a quick return time. Retardant was also dropped to keep the fire from expanding to the north.

Evacuations were ordered in the area, and a handful of hunters were cleared out. There were some old structures in the area, but Weed said there wasn’t an immediate threat to those areas.

The blaze burned all day on Saturday and throughout the night. Hand crews arrived on Sunday, creating a heavy presence for firefighting efforts on the ground. Firefighters made great progress with slight rain dampening the heat. Winds picked up again later in the afternoon, which tested the containment lines. 

Weed said the boundaries seemed to be holding while firefighters attacked the north side. He hoped precipitation would help cool down the blaze at the start of the week. However, there was increased fire activity on Monday night as the wind continued. 

Yet wet weather on Tuesday morning helped offset the conditions. 

There was hard rain near Fish Lake with some snowfall in the higher elevations, which help to put out jackpots of heat deep within the timber.

There’s still heavy smoke in some areas such as stumps and Beetle Kill Pine, which serve as 1,000-hour fuel sources, but Weed said the fire itself looks decent. Containment didn’t change from earlier in the week.

Weed speculated the Elizabeth Ridge Fire would burn for at least a few more days due to the amount of timber in the area. He said the fire is comparable to other burns in forest areas like Idaho rather than the brush fires that are common in Utah. Without rain and snow, the fire might’ve lasted for weeks.

Officials determined the Elizabeth Ridge Fire was human-caused, but it’s unclear whether it was intentional. The investigation is ongoing.

Fire danger in Summit County has been high since August, and the risk still exists with the changing of the seasons. 

Weed said monsoonal rains helped keep conditions in check last month, but they’ve already dried out again — igniting the possibility of a fire.

Utah’s wildfire season typically runs from July 1 to Oct. 1. There have been 1,126 wildfires this year, 609 of which were human-caused, that have burned more than 57,000 acres.

The Elizabeth Ridge Fire was the third-largest active wildfire in the state as of Tuesday and just outside the top 30 for the year.

Text SCFIREINFO to 888777 for updates on Summit County fire outlook, conditions, prescribed burns and more.

The post Rain, snow slows Elizabeth Ridge Fire appeared first on Park Record.

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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