Dixie fire evacuees allowed to go home

NEW HARMONY, Washington County — Fire officials lifted a mandatory evacuation order at 7 p.m. Tuesday, giving residents of this Washington County community some very good news.

"That's great!" said Alyssa Prisbrey, 15, whose family spent Monday night with relatives in St. George after the Blue Springs Fire forced hundreds to leave their homes in New Harmony earlier that day.

Late Monday evening, the Prisbreys and dozens of their neighbors and friends gathered important belongings and left town when officials sounded the signal to evacuate.

Prisbrey took her laptop and cell phone while her parents packed photo albums, important papers, hunting trophies and other special possessions.

But there were many others who chose not to leave.

"Oh, we're still here. Somebody said to evacuate, but I don't think they had the authority," said 90-year-old Viola Kelsy, who lives around the corner from the post office with her husband, Verl.

The thick smoke that filled the valley on Monday was gone by Tuesday afternoon, giving Kelsy the chance to take her daily walk once again.

"I like to walk early in the morning, but not with this scare," she said.

Stephanie Kelsen lives in Mountain Springs, a community just south of New Harmony. The encroaching fire also threatened homes there. Kelsen said she and several of her neighbors packed up but chose not to evacuate.

"We sat up on a ridge and watched the flames until 11:30 that night," she said. "We really didn't sleep well last night. We think we're out of the woods now, but we haven't unpacked our bags yet."

The family's dogs spent the night in cages in the back of a pickup truck so they would be "ready at a moment's notice," Kelsen said.

"I have never seen so much hillside on fire at one time. The coals looked like stars, almost," she said. "When we went to the town meeting you could see the flames. It was really frightening, just beyond compre- hension."

Fire officials revised the acreage consumed by the Blue Springs Fire after getting a more accurate count Tuesday, putting the number at 12,260 acres. Storm clouds gathered overhead throughout the day and brief rain showers helped firefighters in their efforts to douse the blaze that once threatened this town.