Burning Juniper trees emit brilliant flames averaging around 1,500 degrees with thick, black smoke serving as the signal that danger lies ahead. But rather than turn around, a small group of Summit County volunteers trudges in. This is what they have been training for.
East Side firefighters earlier this week were dispatched to Henefer around 2:30 p.m. after an agricultural burn turned unruly. Around 5 acres of land was charred in total with crews containing the blaze by 6 p.m., according to Chief Ben Nielson.
Summit County is set to launch a new firefighting program to help protect local areas as the federal system continues to be overextended with larger and larger fires.