UT: RESIDENTS RETURN HOME AFTER FIRE THREAT
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WASHINGTON TERRACE, Utah (KSTU) — Neighbors in a Weber County neighborhood are relieved to be back home after they had to evacuate because of a fast-moving fire that burned right up to homes.
Washington Terrace city manager Tom Hanson said the Adams Fire burned 45 acres, and all evacuations were lifted around 5:30 p.m. He said about 250 homes were evacuated as a precaution. A home and trailer were damaged. A civilian and a Weber County Sheriff’s Office deputy were both burned by the fire. The condition of the civilian is unknown, while the deputy was treated for minor injuries and released soon after.
Kevin Cundick lives in the neighborhood and was one of those evacuated. He said he was by the ridgeline and saw the flames get very close, as seen in the video below.
“The fire approaches really rapidly and it just quickly came over the head,” Cundick said.
He is a former firefighter and found himself on the other side of this fire.
“I was thinking, what can I do to help here?” he recalled. “I have seen that exact situation before, and it is scary all the time.”
Crews from the Weber Fire District, Riverdale Fire, Mountain Green Fire, South Weber Fire District, and many other agencies helped put out the fire.
Zeline Ramirez lives about two blocks from the fire. She was evacuated and spent time at the temporary shelter at the senior center.
“It got hard when it got really brown, and then there was like a north wind, and it was blowing it toward our house, and it was just like smoke, and we could see little bit of ash come down,” she said.
Neighbors who were not evacuated, but could see the smoke around them, came by to help. Jordan Smith, who lives in Riverdale, has been evacuated from his home because of a fire in the past, so he dropped off crates of water at the senior center.
“We noticed all these people getting evacuated. We thought, ‘What can we do to help?’ This is a stressful time, time when people are worried about their homes, pets, what’s going to happen, when they can get back in,” he said.
Washington Terrace Mayor Mark Allen said he could understand what his neighbors were dealing with.
“I was forced to evacuate,” he said at a press conference. “And I’ll tell you, that’s an eerie feeling. I just encourage everybody, no matter where you are, if you are encouraged to evacuate, please evacuate.”
Cundick said he’s so thankful for all the crews who showed up to make sure they could go home safely.
“Without them, it would have been a different day,” he said.
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