Growth of Silver King Fire leaves people in shock
Jul 7, 2024, 10:58 PM | Updated: Jul 8, 2024, 5:29 pm
MARYSVALE, Piute County — Several residents in a rural part of Utah are preparing for the worst as a wildfire has ballooned in size over the past 24 hours.
“It’s been incredibly heartbreaking to watch,” said Ellery Gowdy, who saw the Silver King Fire nearly double in size over the weekend to more than 10,000 acres. Gowdy said most of her extended family lives in Marysvale, but her father’s home is at risk of being burned down.
On Sunday, Marysvale city officials ordered the evacuation of the Upper Bullion Canyon. Throughout the weekend, Gowdy said her father and other residents did what they could to remove nearby foliage and sprayed down their homes as the fire grew closer.
“This has been a really emotional fire for, honestly, everyone involved because there’s a lot of history up in those hills of those mountains,” she said.
Just north of Ellery’s family home, Jonathan Edwards, a pastor in Marysvale, started packing up valuable items from one of the ministry buildings.
“The mountainside where the fire has been raging for the last few days, there’s a lot of fuel there,” Edwards said as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters flew over.
Local fire departments, along with federal personnel, are battling the wildfire, facing strong winds and extreme conditions.
Gov. Spencer Cox posted on X, “The next two weeks will be brutal for fire conditions in our state. Please be careful.” As the fire remains at zero percent containment, many hope for a positive outcome.
Spent the afternoon in Marysvale on the Silver King Fire. The fire is growing rapidly in difficult terrain. I’m grateful to local/state/federal teams working to save lives and property. The next two weeks will be brutal for fire conditions in our state. Please be careful. https://t.co/TPtuGJV7SO pic.twitter.com/WNFjHruLIq
— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) July 7, 2024
“Everything we have is given to us by the Lord and we’re just stewards of it for a time, and it’s all in his hands,” Edwards said.
FEMA announced Sunday afternoon nearly 300 homes were being threatened and are now providing federal assistance. State fire officials estimate the fire has burned 10,026 acres as of Monday morning. It was started by lightning on Friday.
