Fire crews in Park City quickly contained a blaze on Aug. 26 that threatened homes in the Aerie. No structures were damaged but emergency responders considered evacuating neighborhoods as the wind changed directions.
“We didn’t have to evacuate people but we did think about it. Behind the scenes we were making those decisions,” Park City Emergency Program Manager Hugh Daniels said. “We put aside buses if we needed to help evacuate Iron Horse and Fireside.”
Daniels said he watched closely last week as a massive wildfire in Salt Lake County forced the evacuation of more than 1,600 homes in the Herriman area.
“Part of my job is reviewing what the hazards are in the community and how we would respond to those,” Daniels said in a telephone interview. “When you have a big fire like the Machine Gun Fire in Herriman, I watch how they respond and how they deal with the press and what their issues are. If we had a fire of that size in our community, how would we respond? How would we handle evacuations and where would we evacuate people?”
Roughly a dozen locations throughout Summit County are designated as emergency shelters.
“Mostly they are schools,” Daniels said. “You’ve got to have space to put cots. You’ve got to have restrooms, preferably showers and a place to do meals. Those are the key components of shelters.”
Having emergency plans in place prior to needing to evacuate can help the stressful process flow more smoothly for families, Daniels said.
“There is a huge ability to improve on our individual preparedness and planning for emergencies. When you are in a hurry to get out because there is fire licking at your back door, you don’t have time to really think about those things to take and not take,” Daniels said. “People need to think about how they will contact each other and do they have a central place to contact? In Herriman, the cell phone lines were down and some of the landlines.”
Meanwhile, one of the best ways to prevent a wildfire from destroying your house is to create “defensible space.”
“What people need to think of ahead of time is making their property as safe as possible,” Daniels said. “We love our trees and we live in the mountains, but we let them grow right up to the houses. That’s like having a fuse attached to your house.”
Summit County Fire Warden Bryce Boyer said the wildfire in Herriman spared several homes because the structures had defensible space.
“That gives the firefighters the best chance of getting in to protect it,” Boyer explained. “As firefighters, we need space so we can be there safely.”
Homeowners should clear the vegetation at least 30 feet from their houses.
“It depends on how much vegetation, the type of vegetation and how thick it is,” Boyer said in a telephone interview.
Residents in Summit County can request Boyer visit their properties to assess the degree of fire danger at their homes.
“We walk around the home and give them pointers and ideas about what they can do to make their structure more survivable in the event of a wildfire coming through,” Boyer said. “We’ve done a lot of that in Summit County. We’ve been in Silver Creek. We’ve been into Moose Hollow and we have been into most of the Weber Canyon communities.”
The evaluations are free. Contact Boyer at 435-336-3982 to schedule an assessment.