STOCKTON, Utah — The burn scar left over from last year's Jacob City fire is posing flooding concerns for the town of Stockton as the calendar heads into spring.
Back in July, the fire led to three separate flooding incidents and burned an estimated 4,000 acres.
"They said that we really need to be careful for the next three years," said resident Lonnie Bates.
Stockton Mayor Nando Meli is well aware of the concerns and says the city has taken precautions heading into the flood season. That includes using federal money it received from the National Resources Conservation Service to protect the town's water well and treatment plant.
"They paid for the berms to be put in place already, and they gave some to the county; some matching funds for doing some work up the canyon," said the mayor.
Max Roth explains the Utah areas most vulnerable to flooding below:
The plant was temporarily taken out of service in August due to risks of sediment and debris from last summer's fire.
A sand-bagging station has been set up at Alex Baker Memorial Park for residents who are looking to take precautions, especially with rain expected to roll through the area later Tuesday.
"It will be here until it's gone, and then when spring comes, we maybe might even still keep it here for the fall when we have the flash floods."
Other measures are also being taken to mitigate any flooding in the area in the future.
"Phase Two of the work that will be completed in the canyon is to slow the water all the way from the head of the canyon, all the way down to the base of the canyon right now, especially after a burn, the water comes down at an accelerated pace," explained Bucky Whitehouse, the director of Tooele County Emergency Services
Whitehouse says his department will begin working on that plan on April 1.
As for residents, they know they are at the mercy of the weather.
"If the weather continues to do what it's doing right now, it'll bring it down naturally," said Bates. "But if it waits until summer just gets here and it gets hotter, we have a rain event or a warm event, then it turns into a disaster."
