Residents of Eureka gathered at the Eureka Maintenance Shed to create sandbags in preparation for the monsoon season. The community effort follows the Iron Fire, which burned close to residential back fences, leaving a burn scar that increases the risk of flooding and mudslides.
Community members arrived with shovels and gloves to pack sand into bags. The goal is to establish a stockpile of between 600 and 800 sandbags to be ready for incoming rains.
Eureka Mayor Robert Jenkins noted that the town's location in a canyon makes flooding a primary concern, as water can move quickly down hillsides carrying debris. The mayor expressed gratitude for the community's readiness to protect the town after the fire department had already worked to defend it once.
Support for the initiative came from surrounding areas. According to Jenkins, Santaquin provided pallets and sand, while Juab County supplied much of the equipment used during the effort. The Mayor stated that the intention is to produce enough bags for Eureka and potentially maintain reserves to assist neighboring communities.
Local residents, including Rylee Garbett, participated in the bag-filling process to ensure the town is prepared for potential mudslides. Garbett expressed pride in the community's ability to band together and shared a message of thanks to firefighters for their work in protecting the town from previous fires.
The sandbagging process moved quickly, with the group running out of sandbags and filling available pallets in approximately one hour.
