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MARYSVALE, Piute County — Several residents in a rural part of Utah are preparing for the worst as a wildfire ballooned in size Sunday.
"It's been incredibly heartbreaking to watch," said Ellery Gowdy as she has seen the Silver King Fire grow throughout the weekend. As of Sunday night, the fire had burned more than 10,000 acres, according to Utah Fire Info.
Gowdy said most of her extended family lives in Marysvale, but her father's home is at risk of being burned down.
On Sunday, Marysvale city officials ordered the evacuation of the Upper Bullion Canyon. Throughout the weekend, Gowdy said her father and other residents did what they could to remove nearby foliage and sprayed down their homes as the fire grew closer.
"This has been a really emotional fire for, honestly, everyone involved because there's a lot of history up in those hills of those mountains," she said.
Just north of Ellery's family home, Jonathan Edwards, a pastor in Marysvale, started packing up valuable items from one of the ministry buildings.
"The mountainside where the fire has been raging for the last few days, there's a lot of fuel there," Edwards said as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters flew over.
Local fire departments along with federal personnel are battling the wildfire, facing strong winds and extreme conditions.
Gov. Spencer Cox posted on X, "The next two weeks will be brutal for fire conditions in our state. Please be careful." As the fire remains at 0% containment, many hope for a positive outcome.
"Everything we have is given to us by the Lord and we're just stewards of it for a time, and it's all in his hands," Edwards said.
FEMA announced Sunday afternoon nearly 300 homes were being threatened. The agency is now providing federal assistance.
