CENTERVILLE—The Fourth of July is meant for celebrating the country with fireworks and parades, but in Centerville, a wildfire in the mountains above the city that started Sunday night forced families from their homes and cancellation of the annual parade as firefighters battled the blaze.

“Sunday at 11 p.m. a fire broke out on the mountain at Center Street east of firebreak road, quickly spreading to the north,” said Centerville Police Lt. Allen Ackerson. “South Davis Metro Fire (SDMF) came out along with eight agencies to assist that night. The fire was contained on the east side of firebreak road. It did its job and stopped it from coming down into homes.”

Ackerson said 89 homes were evacuated. “Those displaced went to the LDS chapel at 950 N. Main. Thankfully the order was lifted at 6 a.m. There was coordination with the Red Cross but in the short time frame of the evacuation they didn’t set up.”

The police department used the CodeRED system to notify residents of the parade cancellation. “We also had officers go door to door,” said Ackerson. “I would encourage everyone to register for CodeRED. There’s an app you can download to register your home and location. You can also go online and register your landline.”

SDMF transitioned out over the course of the day and the Northern Utah Interagency Fire Center took over, he said. “We work in collaboration with them. They have federal and state resources to fight wild land fires. They have a professional crew—that’s all they do.”

“Local resources responded along with state and federal government resources that worked throughout the night to gain control of the western portion to decrease that side of the threat to structures,” said Sierra Hellstrom, Public Information Officer with Northern Utah Interagency Type 3 Incident Management Team. “The interagency took control using resources such as overhead management of the fire and ordered more resources to assist in fire suppression efforts.”

The fire mapped at 129 acres with 10 percent containment as of Tuesday, she said. “The portion that’s contained is the western flank closest to the structures. Multiple crews hiked in to work against the perimeter of the fire with engines up against firebreak road. We’ll use helicopters as needed to drop buckets of water to crews on the ground.”

Since it was a smaller fire, Hellstrom said they divided up the area into two because it’s easier to identify and manage. “Half of the north closest to Parrish Creek was Division D and the southern half closest to Deuel Creek was Division A. We divided the crews to work those different areas.”

The southern area had more grass, so she anticipated that would be contained by the end of shift on Tuesday. “The majority of the crews are focused on efforts on the north side where there is a little more vegetation.” Hellstrom thought the fire would likely be contained by the end of the week if not sooner.

There is no more threat to structures, she said. “The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest issued a forest closure for the area of the western forest boundary between Deuel Creek and Parrish Creek. 

“I want to remind people even though you can’t see flames and smoke there is still active fire work and heat sources and bucket drops can pose a danger,” said Hellstrom. “Stay out of the area and let firefighters do their job.”

The fire investigators are working to identify the cause, she said. “Right now it looks likely that it’s human caused but when the investigators are done they’ll release their findings. If the public has any information, photos or footage of the area please contact the Centerville police.” λ