Roy Deputy Fire Chief Mike King told the Standard-Examiner on Tuesday that the first fire occurred near Ogden around 2:26 p.m. along the Union Pacific and Utah Transit Authority railroad tracks near the intersection of Hinckley Drive and S 1900 W. Some units from Roy were dispatched to this fire.

About six minutes later is when (the neighborhood near the intersection of 4400 S and 4375 S) kicked off and had multiple fire starts on the way down,” he said.

This is where the worst damage was done and fire ravaged three homes.

King said that crews were continuing to investigate how many fire starts there were.

“We have at least four or so in our area of possible starts,” he said. “It’s still being investigated. We still don’t have the exact spot of initial starts.”

He said that fire starts extend along the railroad tracks from around 4400 South in Roy to north of Hinckley Drive where the first fire was reported.

King said 30 total outbuildings have been damaged or destroyed and three homes were lost. Around 200 people were evacuated and the fires took around three hours to fully bring under control. A cause remains under investigation at this time.

“I have help from the state fire marshal’s office, I have State Forestry, I have ATF here and local fire inspectors,” he said.

He said around 22 fire engines and six brush trucks from area departments were deployed over the course of the fire.

The Roy-area fires had an impact on FrontRunner traffic through the area according to UTA Public Relations Coordinator Thomas Lee.

“At approximately 2:30 pm on Monday, July 20, a grass fire began near the Roy FrontRunner station,” he said in an email to the Standard-Examiner. “UTA quickly became aware of the fire and implemented a bus bridge between Ogden and Clearfield stations, routing customers away from the affected area. FrontRunner experienced delays of 20-35 minutes during the bus bridge.”

He said that the bus bridge was in place through around 6:30 p.m., UTA property received no damage during the fires and that FrontRunner was operating normally on Tuesday.

King had a simple piece of advice for the residents of Roy.

“Everybody be fire safe,” he said.