As of 3:20 p.m. Aug. 9, cellular devices buzzed, notifying Utah County residents of the Coal Hollow Fire. Spreading within Spanish Fork Canyon, the uncontained flames have led officials to increase the evacuation and pre-evacuation areas. The alert encouraged the public to visit inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6101 or contact 385-200-4802 for more information. However, due to an overwhelming amount of traffic on the website, the server failed to connect for most, leaving Utah residents without updates.
The nwcg.gov map of the Coal Hollow and Hill Top fires evacuation areas as of 3 p.m., Thursday, 9 Aug. 2018 overlaid on a Google map. The red area is the area evacuated and the yellow area is on pre-evacuation alert.
The website was restored about an hour later. The incident report calls the fire 'an aggressive, fast-moving fire in steep terrain driven by hot winds in dry fuels.'
The webpage announced a community meeting with the incident management team on Thursday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. at the North Sanpete High School in Mt. Pleasant.
For additional information on the Coal Hollow Fire, see 'Utah Fire Info' on Facebook.