MONROE, Utah — Thick plumes of smoke from the Monroe Canyon Fire are still rising over large parts of central Utah as local residents anxiously watch and wait, wondering when the fire will be put out.
"From the view, it’s scary," said Christine Diamond. "See the red fire and the ashes coming down. It’s sad.
Diamond works at Toni’s Bakery in Monroe, where they hope the firefighters who have been stopping by can stay out of harm’s way as the two-week-old wildfire has grown to more than 30,000 acres.
"Now that it’s raging again, I’m scared for them," Diamond said of the firefighters. "I want everybody safe and not so much damage. I just want this over."
When will Utah get relief from smoky, ashy conditions caused by burning wildfires?
Renae Pape with the U.S. Forest Service shared that the area where the fire is currently raging, which they're calling the sleeping dragon, contains fuel types ripe for fire activity.
"Incredibly dry out here, and with the terrain being the way it is, firefighters have a very hard time getting in there to go direct on fire suppressions," Pape explained.
Crews are also fighting the fire from the air, dropping water and fire retardant, and using bulldozers and heavy equipment on the ground to carve out fire lines, but windy, dry conditions haven’t helped.
Four structures have been lost in the Manning Meadows area, while three were destroyed in the Magleby area.
"It’s been kind of scary, really, ash falling and wondering which way it’s going to go," said Toni, who recently relocated her bakery to the area. She said her heart goes out to those who've lost their generations-old cabins and to those trying to fight it.
"I just wish that they could get it out," she said.
Toni's baked a cake last week for firefighters in hopes that it boosts morale for those who have been going nonstop.
Other local shops, like Bullies, are offering drinks and discounts to help the men and women working on the beloved mountains, and hope they'll be able to get a handle on the fire that was just 16% contained as of Tuesday morning.
"Sometimes you think it’s getting better and then it gets worse," said Diamond. "I just feel bad about it.
One firefighter told FOX 13 News that the fear is that the Monroe Canyon Fire won’t be fully put out until the snow starts to fall later in the year.
