(Photo: Department of Natural Resources)
SPRINGVILLE, Utah — A boulder dislodged by the Round Peak Fire landed on the porch of a Springville home.
Pat Knowlden lives in Springville near where this fire has been burning. While the fire was blazing she heard what she said was a horrendous noise.
“I couldn’t figure it out what it was because it wasn’t, you know, a noise we’re familiar with,” she said.
She and her husband thought was an explosion and that perhaps a plane had crashed. As she opened the door, she found a giant boulder sitting on her porch.
Holy cow!” she recalled saying. “How’d that get here?”
The Utah Department of National Resources says it appears the boulder had been lodged behind a clump of oaks. After the oaks had been consumed by the fire, the rock was freed to roll down the hill.
The DNR estimates the boulder reached a speed of around 50 mph on its way down the hill and as it rolled between two houses and landed on the Knowlden’s porch.
The boulder’s place on the Knowlden’s property is not permanent. The Forest Service will move the massive boulder by use of a crane on Wednesday.
The 267 acre Round Peak Fire is currently 5% contained and the Forestry Service will be on hand with a crane to move the boulder sometimes today.