MARYSVALE, Piute County — A small southcentral Utah Town is breathing a sigh of relief after a raging wildfire racing towards them has been slowed in its path on Monday.
The Silver King Fire, located just outside Marysvale, about 30 miles south of Richfield, blew up over the weekend. On Friday, the lightning-caused fire was about 600 acres, but on Sunday morning, it grew to 5,400 acres; by the end of the day, it was over 10,000 acres.
On Sunday, the winds really kicked up, and it started to race down the mountainside towards homes. One of those homes belongs to Jamey and Nicole Watson. They were in the evacuation zone and thought for sure their house was going to be destroyed.
“I thought we were going to lose it. It was coming straight for us,” said Jamey Watson.
But they believe the fire destroyed their cabin in the mountains.
“It’s heart-wrenching because I’ve grown up here, and seeing the beauty of the mountain is gone now. There are a lot of good memories up there, but we are glad we are safe,” Jamey Watson said.
“Pretty helpless feeling, honestly,” added Nicole Watson as she watched the fire race towards her house. “I got to that moment where I thought, I don’t know who or what could stop this. It was a raging fire coming down here with winds and I didn’t think there was any way that we were going to be able to stop it.”
The smoke from the Silver King Fire. (KSL TV)
The Watsons said firefighters spent the night outside their place making sure the fire didn’t destroy their home.
“We watched all night. We slept on a deck up here and just kind of watched and prayed,” said Nicole. “Just feel blessed that the winds turned right on time.”
Jonathan Edwards, a local pastor in the area who runs the Eagles Nest Baptist Ministry, was preparing to evacuate.
“All of a sudden, there will be 200-foot flames just instantaneously when a tree just explodes,” Edwards said. “As high as the winds were yesterday, I think that we would have had a massive loss here if it were not for federal intervention.”
Kevin Abel, the public information officer for the Utah Fire Info, said the very steep and very rugged terrain has made fighting this fire very difficult.
“Relative humidity being below 20 is a huge concern of ours, and we have the winds running gust of 25 miles an hour,” said Abel. “We could see the weather change very quickly.”
winds, & helicopters are still being heavily utilized. Firefighter & public safety remain the top priority. Today a briefing was held with Gov. Cox & Lt. Gov Henderson to update them on the current fire situation.
— Utah Fire Info (@UtahWildfire) July 8, 2024