DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah — After long-awaited rainfall and some snow, officials in charge of the Yellow Lake Fire held a community meeting to update the nearby residents.
Kristy Groves, a supervisor for the Ashley National Forest, said people will probably still see smoke from the wildfire until it's buried under the snow.
"The weather has really helped us kind of get control of the fire, so the complexity has really lessened quite a bit," she said in Sunday's meeting.
It's the biggest wildfire of the year in Utah, burning an estimated 33,000 acres near the corner of Duchesne, Wasatch and Summit counties.
The Wasatch and Duchesne county evacuation orders were lifted Friday, but forest closures remain in effect.
"In this little community, everybody just kind of pulled together," said Ben Park, a resident of Hanna, Duchesne County. "We were able to get livestock off the mountain, help people evacuate that needed evacuated, and everybody that needed to get ready got ready. And I think any time you have an incident like this, it just brings people closer together."
"I think it's been pretty impactful on us," added fellow Hanna resident Ken Bleak. "We didn't know... they were just getting a handle on the fire. So once they got in and got the maps and held these meetings, I was confident that it was going to get out. Of course, the weather helped too."
Just a few days ago, there were nearly 900 personnel on the ground. Now there are 396.
Community members told FOX 13 News that they're grateful for all of the work that the firefighters are doing. In the meantime, they're patiently waiting for more rain and snow.
