SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — What started off as a normal day quickly changed for campers in the Manorlands area of Summit County. People in the area described the day as cloudy until it started to look smoky.
Ella Fox was camping with her family up in the mountains. They had a group of 60 people for their family reunion. “It’s kind of sad because it’s like a family area that we usually go every year, and we had to cut it short,” Fox said.
The Northern Utah Type 3 Team took over the fire. Toby Weed, with the team, said the conditions are making it more difficult. “This is exactly the conditions that we don’t want to see out here, right now there’s a red flag warning because of the high winds, and very low relative humidity or moisture in the air, and that’s driving rapid fire growth,” Weed said.
Crews were still assessing the fire from the air, and a Department of Public Safety helicopter was helping to evacuate people from the fire conditions. “It’s burning in timber right now,” Weed said. “Which creates lots of hazards for firefighters, namely fire-weakened hazard trees, which are a huge hazard and are responsible for a number of firefighter fatalities in the last 10 years.”
For Ella Fox and her family, it wasn’t their typical reunion, but there were some emotional moments as people evacuated sites and came down the mountain.
Many of the people we spoke to were holding out hope that their favorite spots would be safe to visit again next year. “There have been fires in the past, and there are a bunch of dead trees just down there, so hopefully it’ll be okay,” Fox said.
