Silver King Fire still burning, town bracing for flash flood potential

MARYSVALE, Utah — As the Silver King Fire continues to burn, residents of nearby Marysvale in Piute County are bracing for the potential of flash flooding.

The Silver King Fire is 88% contained and has burned 18,222 acres. Fire crews are using a confinement approach to allow the fire to burn towards natural barriers, particularly on the western side of the fire footprint.

The northern and eastern portions are contained with firefighters seeming confident in those lines. The fire was sparked by lightning and was first reported on July 5, 2024.

On Friday, theNevada Incident Management Team 5 shared what they called the "final update" on the Silver King Fire and announced they'll transition to a locally based incident management strategy featuring local fire crews.

"While the fire is reducing in complexity and the incident management objectives are being met, the fire will remain in a patrol and monitor status for quite some time," wrote the fire information staff. "That means firefighters will remain on scene to observe the fire and extinguish hot spots if necessary. Because the fire is confined and not declared 'out' there will still be a considerable amount of smoke throughout the summer until cooler, wetter weather arrives. However, the threat of the fire escaping its current footprint has been reduced to the lowest level possible with the contain/confine strategy. "

The nearby town of Marysvale continues to prepare for potential flash flooding. On Thursday night, a special town meeting was held to discuss preparations and ongoing evaluation of the Silver King Fire burn scar area. Town leaders encouraged residents sign up for 'CODE RED', to learn about evacuation notices.

"There's still a monster up there; it may be asleep but it's still there," said Marysvale Fire Chief Jon Christensen on Friday. "Our major concern and probably the worst thing would be flooding concerns."

In collaboration with the Army CORP of Engineers, Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams as well as local and state partners, they're analyzing the fire area and it's potential for significant flooding.

"It doesn't look good," Christensen said. "If we get a severe rain event, it could be really bad. We're looking at a lot of debris flows coming down three major watersheds (Bullion, Beaver Creek, Deer Creek)."

Christensen encouraged Marysvale residents to have an evacuation plan and to be aware of the flash flood potential which could last up to nearly five years with the large burn scar.

"I don't want people panicked, I don't want them scared, but I want them to understand the very real danger that could occur," Christensen said. "We've never had a burn scar like this, we've never had this kind of damage and all you have to do is take a look at Ruidoso, New Mexico to see what we're in for if the right kind of rain hits us in the wrong spot."

Fire managers anticipate the Silver King Fire will continue to burn until a "season ending event", which could be rain or snowfall.

They estimated a rough timeframe to potentially be in mid-to-late October for the fire to be declared out.

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