The Yellow Lake Fire is growing to nearly 24,000 acres and new mandatory evacuations are in effect

The human-caused Yellow Lake Fire broke out on September 28 in eastern Wasatch County. It is already 18% contained.

Summit County Emergency Management ordered new mandatory evacuations due to the Yellow Lake Fire on Thursday evening.

Sierra Hellstrom, along with the U.S. Forest Service, said the evacuation was for an area north of the Mirror Lake Highway between the Yellow Pine Trail trailhead at Mile Marker 6 and the Highline Trail at Mile Marker 35. The area from Ashley National Forest north of Tabiony is also Closed.

All people in the area were ordered to leave immediately. Until December 31, all recreational activities, camping sites, paths and parking lots are prohibited in this area.

Despite these closures, Hellstrom said the Mirror Lake Highway remains open.

“The forest (service) is actively closing these areas and asking recreationists and hunters to immediately evacuate these areas so that in the event of a fire, we can ensure that the public is safe and there are no people in the forest. a forest from which it is much more difficult to evacuate when there is a fire in the area,” she added.

Hellstrom said the Grandaddy Lakes area of ​​the Ashley National Forest was evacuated. The town of Hannah, Duchesne, received a “set” order and was ready to evacuate immediately.

Hellstrom said 564 people are currently fighting the fire and are still dealing with difficult conditions.

“In October, we are still seeing July weather conditions at the base. This morning we had a temperature of 55 degrees, when normal is usually closer to 30 degrees, so more than 20 degrees above normal,” she said.

It is also very dry. Hellstrom said typically at night the humidity increases and the fire begins to die down. However, the humidity remains below 20% overnight and the fire does not go out.

Hellstrom said Highway 35 remains closed as the fire continues to spread across the road.

“The fire continues across a large portion of Highway 35. We continue to see large boulders rolling onto the road. The road guard is not working due to the fire. Large and heavy logs are rolling and falling onto the road, and fires continue to break out on both sides of the highway.”

Fire officials ask that you only call 911 to report life-threatening situations. The non-emergency number is 435-615-3600.