Evacuations to be lifted at 10 p.m. around Willard Peak Fire in North Ogden

NORTH ODGEN — Evacuations are set to be lifted around the Willard Peak Fire by 10 p.m. on Thursday. 

As of Thursday at 8 p.m. the fire had burned 577 acres and is 14% contained. 

Our previous reporting follows.

NORTH OGDEN —  Evacuations in place around the Willard Peak Fire will be lifted by 10 p.m. on Thursday night.

Sierra Hellstrom with the Northern Utah Type 3 Incident Management Team said the evacuations will be on a “yellow-set status,” meaning that residents that left are welcome to return, but with the understanding that evacuations may again be necessary.

Officials will provide another evacuation update at 8 p.m., MDT, on Thursday.

Our previous reporting follows.

NORTH OGDEN — A wildfire that began in the hills of North Ogden on Wednesday had burned 300 acres by Wednesday night. As of Thursday morning, no buildings had burned, but the flames continued to threaten neighborhoods nearby.

The Utah Department of Natural Resources said the fire had grown to approximately 700 acres by 8 a.m. Thursday.

Multiple power outages due to the fire affected homes into Thursday morning, but Rocky Mountain Power crews and fire crews had already restored most of the outages in the area by approximately 6 a.m.

Evacuations ordered

On Thursday morning, North Ogden Police extended evacuation orders to the area east of 1050 East and north of 2850 North. The evacuations started at 3300 North on Wednesday, then expanded to 3150 North later in the evening.

On Wednesday evening, officials said the evacuations had impacted 150 homes — an increase from 15 to 20 that were originally being threatened — but did not say how many more homes were evacuated on Thursday.

On Thursday morning, the city of North Ogden said the evacuations were set to remain in place until 5 p.m. the same day. But by Thursday afternoon, Utah Fire Info reported that evacuations will remain in place until further notice.

Strong winds a major contributing factor

On Wednesday night, the wind was one of the most devastating factors faced by firefighters and homeowners in the path of danger. And because wind characteristics change when the sun sets, by early evening, the strength of of the wind was preventing most air operations.

According to Utah Fire Info, this fire is burning in “flashy fine fuels and gamble oak.” They report that fire crews are “actively engaged,” along with aircraft that is attempting to slow the fire’s progression.

The Willard Peak Fire is human caused.  The public is strongly encouraged to avoid the area where the fire is burning.

How did the Willard Peak Fire start?

In a press conference on Wednesday night, Jeremiah Jones, Deputy Fire Chief with the North View Fire Dept, said a car fire had sparked the larger blaze.

“Where 1050 East ends and a dirt road continues up, there was a vehicle that was fully engulfed upon our arrival,” Jones said. Wind had carried sparks from the initial fire which ignited in two additional areas.

“So we had three three separate incidences that we needed to try and get ahead of,” he said.

By Wednesday night, officials said they did not know how the initial vehicle fire began.

American Red Cross Northern Utah Chapter helping provide shelter

As many as 60 homes had been evacuated by Wednesday night. The American Red Cross Northern Utah Chapter has set up an evacuation shelter at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building located next to Weber High School at 3602 North 500 West, Pleasant View, Utah, 84414.

The original shelter location was moved, because it lost power.

On that note, people from the Ogden area who were experiencing a power outage linked to the Willard Peak Fire can also utilize the evacuation shelter noted above.

Power outages in Ogden related to Willard Peak Fire

Not long after the Willard Peak Fire began, Rocky Mountain Power confirmed that thousands of customers in the Ogden area had lost power. By 5:00 p.m., the agency posted a message on its webpage confirming that the Ogden power outages were related to the Willard Peak Fire.

Spokesman David Eskelsen told KSL NewsRadio that the fire burned through a transmission corridor. Despite it being a steel structure, smoke from the fire is electrically conductive, and because of that the transmission lines tripped or cut power.

“As we looked at that situation, it became clear that we would have to cut power to a certain number of customers temporarily until we can get in and inspect those lines and restore that major transmission path to service,” Eskelsen said.

We’re aware of a power outage affecting 10,495 customers in Ogden, UT and surrounding areas. The cause is due to emergency repair. Crews are working to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. For updates, please text OUT to 759677 or visit https://t.co/5KJ7zd0MQ1. pic.twitter.com/wuspSdwBgz

— Rocky Mountain Power UT (@RMP_Utah) August 13, 2025

Because the transmission corridor extends from the Ben Lomond substation in North Ogden to the El Monte station near Riverdale, a large swath of customers have been impacted. At 6:24 p.m., more than 31,000 customers were without power.

Eskelsen said that customers who are without power should make sure that everything in their home or office is unplugged, including air conditioners. This will be impactful when the power returns.

“If we can prevent the situation where all the air conditioners in that area are cycling all at once, that will really help us put this system back together when fire officials let us in to inspect our

Rocky Mountain Power hopes to inspect their equipment by 10 p.m. on Wednesday night.

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This is a continuing news story. It will be updated.