Herriman Fire

Herriman Fire:A fire that first danced across a ridge top plunged downward late Sunday, sweeping into Herriman’s southern neighborhoods.

Responders and residents sprinted away from homes as 50 mph winds fanned flames from a wildfire that began Sunday afternoon at a machine gun firing range at Utah National Guard’s Camp Williams.

“It’s chaos,” said Salt Lake County sheriff’s Lt. Don Hutson as he helped move residents out of their homes.

At least 1,400 homes had been evacuated as of midnight and some had caught fire, said emergency responders who descended on Herriman from across the valley and pushed through crowds of onlookers.

Meanwhile, as many as 250 evacuees waited for updates at a Red Cross center at Herriman High School.

Melissa Kula said she and her husband packed their car while they watched flames rise over the ridge behind their home on Muirwood Circle. When they pulled away at 8 p.m., flames were almost to their backyard.

“I’m devastated, to say the least,” Kula said, tears welling in her eyes. Her family had lived in the home since June. As of Sunday night, she assumed it had burned.

Authorities could not confirm which or how many houses had burned Sunday night. “Upwards of 100,” homes were in jeopardy, said Unified Fire Authority Chief Michael Jensen.

 The blaze started during a National Guard training session when a spark from a soldier’s round ignited dry brush, said Utah National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Hank McIntire.

“They knew immediately and they got on it right away,” but did not have enough manpower and equipment to contain the fire, McIntire said.

From Camp Williams, the fire moved into Arnold’s Hollow of Rose Canyon and jumped over a dirt road that had previously acted as a barrier on Camp Williams’ northern border at Black Ridge, said Unified Fire Authority Capt. Brad Taylor. Bulldozers were digging up fire breaks to the fire’s east to keep it from spreading into the valley, but Taylor said they would not be effective until the winds die down.

“Once you get one ember across, it is a whole new fire taking off,” Taylor said. Winds were expected to subside to 20 mph by morning.

“We are expected to have winds throughout the night fueling this fire and continuing to push it through,” Taylor said.

Early Sunday evening, the fire was estimated to have burned 300 acres, said Jason Curry spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. By the end of the night, responders had no way to view the fire’s boundaries.

“The smoke has made that pretty much impossible,” Curry said.

Thirty local fire and medical vehicles were dispatched to the fire, with more than 100 crew members. The Utah National Guard sent 124 troops and three Blackhawk helicopters to dump water on the fire, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration announced it will pay 75 percent of the state’s firefighting costs.