NORTH OGDEN — The recent Willard Peak Fire in North Ogden underscores the fire risks associated with development on mountains and in buffer zones where housing gives way to wildlands.

The blaze serves as a reminder “that as we keep building up the mountain, it’s harder and it’s more difficult to get fire apparatus up to the fire,” said Ryan Barker, deputy chief of North View Fire District, which serves North Ogden, Pleasant View and Harrisville.

Yet it also comes amid continuing interest in developing the mountainous area in North Ogden’s northern reaches, where the city’s biggest swaths of developable land sit, and debate about how to accommodate it. It’s not a new discussion, but it’s germane in the wake of the Willard Peak Fire. What’s more, it was focus of renewed attention this week

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