Mandatory evacuations ordered after Yellow Lake fire doubles in size

HIGHLAND, Utah – Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in connection with the Yellow Lake fire in eastern Wasatch County, which nearly doubled in size Friday after what officials called a “challenging” day.

As of Saturday morning, the fire had grown to 7,798 acres. By Saturday evening, the estimate rose to nearly 11,000. It contains 12%.

The fire was determined to be human-caused, but the exact cause is still under investigation.

People must be evacuated from the western and northern branches of the Duchesne River. Meanwhile, campers in the Grandaddy Lakes area of ​​the Ashley National Forest are ready and should prepare to evacuate.

Red flag conditions allowed the fire to explode on a large scale thanks to strong winds, low humidity and record-breaking temperatures for the month of October. Similar weather conditions were forecast for Saturday, forcing firefighters to take a conservative approach to extinguishing the wildfire.

“This is going to be a long-term fire,” said Nikki Champion with the Northern Utah US Forest Service. “It's a complex terrain, it's complex fuels, and now it's very large, so it's going to be a longer, very restoration-intensive fire.” More than just a few days.”

A forest closure remains in effect for portions of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache and Ashley National Forests.

Additional fires ignited north of Highway 35 and spread toward Soapstone Pass and east toward Rhodes Canyon.

Fire officials say the fire is now burning south of and parallel to Mirror Lake Highway, but has not affected that area at this time.

The plan for Saturday is to minimize the spread of the fire into the West Fork of the Duchesne River basin, north into the Soapstone Basin, west toward Mill Hollow and east toward the North Fork of the Duchesne as crews attempt to to protect nearby buildings.

“Firefighting and public safety come first, and beyond that is protecting roads and structures,” said Brian Trick, fire ecologist for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. “So that we can somehow keep up with the evacuations – not only are they a danger, but unfortunately we have to put sheriff's officers and firefighters in harm's way to try to get people there.”

According to Saturday morning's report, the YMCA camp and ranger station remain safe, while the Piuta Girls Camps and their buildings have been treated with fire retardant.