Since it started three weeks ago the Babylon Fire has consumed more than 106,000 acres of forest in the mountains outside the town of Monticello, Utah.People there remain ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.For the last week, dozens of Monticello residents have been gathering every evening on the west edge of town, to thank and support some of the hundreds of firefighters here when a long line of their trucks roll out of the Abajo Mountains.People here have been through a lot since the Babylon Fire started June 26th, when dry conditions and 50 mile-per-hour winds blew the fire up quickly."The first few days it was moving 20,000 acres a day," said Monticello mayor Kevin Dunn.
"Almost a thousand acres an hour.At that point it was completely uncontrollable."Initially the fire grew inside a buffer of federal land on the Manti-LaSal National Forest.
But by July 6 a roiling tower of dark smoke appeared just over the mountain a few miles west of the city."It literally (looked) like there's been an atomic explosion back there," Dunn said, remembering that afternoon."There's lightning flashing everywhere from the particles in the upper atmosphere.
The town was completely engulfed in ash.We had pine needles falling, leaves partially burned falling all over town.
It was truly apocalyptic."As he watched from his yard, Dunn fielded calls from anxious residents."I had several people calling me, you know, 'What are we doing mayor? What's happening? How are we going to protect our lives and our town?'" said Dunn."I said, 'well, get your stuff ready to go.
If we need to leave, we'll leave.'"Officials put much of the town of about 2,000 people on notice: Be ready to evacuate immediately."We've been ready to go for over a week," said Bonnie Des Rosiers, who moved to Monticello from Florida about 25 years ago."Luckily it hasn't gotten to the go stage."Des Rosiers has watched some of her neighbors filling their cars with as many belongings as they could pack in."It's your whole...