Evacuations ordered as Orem fire grows to 300 acres

A brush fire broke out at the base of Mount Timpanogos in Orem on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020. | Yukai Peng, Deseret News

OREM — A new wildfire on Mount Timpanogos has forced the evacuation of several neighborhoods and has shut down Provo Canyon.

Homes within Provo Canyon and in the areas of the Cascade Mini Golf Course and Homestead are under “direct threat” from the blaze and have been evacuated, said Orem Fire Battalion Chief Shaun Hirst.

Additional evacuations have been ordered for Squaw Peak Road, and U.S. 189 has also been closed due to the fire and smoke affecting visibility, according to Utah Fire Info.

Hirst said he expects the evacuation order to remain in place throughout Saturday evening and predicts that the fire response will be an “extended event.”

Officials are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire, Hirst said during a news conference, noting that personnel had been training at a gun range in the area.

Photos appeared to show burned areas near that Orem gun range and flames spreading up the mountain from that area.

Firefighters were sent to the area of 1000 E. Cascade Drive in Orem about noon Saturday. The blaze started just above the Orem Cemetery.

The fire, dubbed the Range Fire, was estimated at 300 acres by early evening.

The fire response plan has two primary components.

“Mainly, we’re looking at two things,” Hirst said. “We are protecting infrastructure. Orem’s water system is up on that hill, as well as homes, so that is our priority. And then traditionally we do have a breeze shift, or a wind shift, that’s going to occur later this evening, and we’re going to prepare for that.”

Saturday afternoon, there were three helicopters, six fixed-wing aircraft, multiple crews and brush trucks fighting the blaze. Officials had also requested a strike team from the Salt Lake Valley for structure protection.

Hirst estimated that around 100 to 120 firefighters were fighting the blaze Saturday afternoon.

“This is going to be a Type 3 incident by the end of the night, and so you’re going to see lots of resources from all over the state and maybe some from outside of the state that are going to be centralized in this northeastern part of town,” he said.

A Type 3 team manages initial attacks with extensive resources until the fire is contained or controlled.

Officials are asking locals to avoid the area and keep drones grounded to assist firefighters.

Mitch Wilkinson, Deseret News

A burned area is shown near a gun range in Orem and smoke and flames spreading up the mountain from that area on Saturday, May 17, 2020.

Additional information will be posted throughout the evening.

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