A wildfire forced the evacuation of Utah residents who live uphill from the state capitol over the weekend.
According to the NY Post, on Saturday at 4:30 PM, the first crew was dispatched in effort to fight a wildfire in Salt Lake City. As time passed, 6 additional emergency agencies would eventually join the firefight efforts.
The fire burned on Ensign Peak, and was an all-hands-on-deck affair. Overhead, helicopters and planes dropped buckets atop the flames, while ground crews worked simultaneously to contain the fire. The operation was made trickier by the high temperatures, fuel moisture and wind direction. According to Division Chief Bob Silverthorne of the Salt Lake City Fire Department, the variables at play make for a potentially "quickly running fire."
Notably, the fire had crews working to save homes 1.2 miles up East Capitol Boulevard. Evacuees from the area were offered a space in the capitol complex, to escape the heat.
Wildfire Near State Capitol Causes Evacuation
The fire department ordered a mandatory evacuation of 40 homes on Sandhurst Drive on Saturday. The police department handled the door-knocking, and delivered the news to the residents. A voluntary evacuation was also ordered along East Capitol. At the time of this article's writing, no reports of injury or property damage have been made public.
Although officials did not know the cause of the fire on Saturday, it had been made public information that the blaze was "human-caused" on Sunday. Moreover, the fire had spread to cover over 150 acres, and was regarded as "zero-percent contained."
This fire adds to the already 585 wildfires that have burned throughout Utah's 2024 wildfire season. While that number certainly feels high, another statistic is nearly more shocking. A majority - 421 of the 585 - of those fires are "human-caused." All in all, over 40,000 acres of Utah land has burned this season already.
By Sunday, over 100 firefighters were on location fighting the still "zero-percent contained" fire. Let's wish them good fortune, and safety, as their work carries on into the new week.
