ELBERTA, Utah — Firefighters made good progress against both the Cherry and Iron fires that are burning mostly in Juab County, as the big weather change provided some relief, according to the Great Basin Incident Management team.
Officials said the Iron Fire is remaining in its control line, which is good news, and allowing a shifting of resources to the nearby Cherry Fire.
Early Saturday, the wildfires had combined to burn over 71,000 acres of land.
The Cherry Fire is sitting at over 30,000 acres and underwent incredible growth overnight during a chaotic evening in which evacuation orders were issued for residents in Eureka, Mammoth and Silver City.
The better weather conditions also allowed good progress to be made on the Cherry Fire.
Teams are now monitoring Eureka and ranches near the Cherry Fire.
Up to 800 personnel are currently battling the fires, along with 12 aircraft at one point, as crews attempted to contain them.
Although the cooler temperatures and lower winds were a relief to firefighters, it is expected to only be temporary, with the heat returning by the second half of the upcoming week.
The big question many have is when evacuees will be able to return to their homes. Officials are asking for patience.
“I know you all want to get back to normal, don't want to have to deal with any of this... that's part of the part of the nature of this game that we do, and so, yeah, ask for continued patience," said an official at a community meeting in Santaquin on Saturday.
The said the reason for the continued evacuations is that crews are monitoring the fingers of the fires that have yet to be contained.
"We've never had to evacuate the town," said Eureka resident Tom Nedreberg.
Nedreberg was actually out of town at the beginning of last week's evacuations.
"We heard about the fire. We did check the Ring cameras, it looked like it was snowing, and it was at 3 a.m. and it was totally bright," he said. "We were concerned about our cat, we were concerned about, you know, our home. A teacher that my wife works with… got our cat and took her to Santaquin.”
Tom was able to return to his Eureka home on Thursday, but almost the moment he got back, it was time to leave again
“We were there for two hours, just enough to cook dinner and pack the truck and leave… It's frustrating, but I also look at my privilege in that I had a place to go, I had a daughter that I could rely on, and I think there are a lot of people in the community that feel that way," he said.
It is expected that it will be at least another 48 hours before it is known when those who evacuated can return to their homes. Teams will reassess the evacuation situation on Sunday.
In the meantime, those who live in the area know that Utah has a lot of healing to do.
“It's really sad, and it's... I mean, how do you describe what it is that's happening," asked Nedreberg. "Don't take it for granted. I mean, it just goes up in smoke that quick.”
