One Firey Night!!!

On Sunday September 19th late afternoon when John and I were headed over to my parents for a late afternoon dinner we noticed a large amount of smoke coming from the other side of our mountain. We were thankful that the wind was blowing the smoke up and over us so we would not smell it. But when we arrived to my parents place you could smell the smoke!!

Later that evening John and I had to leave and go to a church related class at a home near our home. We left the boys at my parents with the plans to pick them up afterward. You could still see the heavy smoke coming up from the back side of the mountain. Although we were never worried about what was going on the other side of the mountain, I did have concerns on the smoke and what effect it would have on Joseph since he has asthma.

About the time we got to our class I received an message on my phone that parts of Herriman are being put on alert due to the fire. Still did not think anything of it. We enjoyed our class, but as we were leaving at 8:30pm and walking out to the car everyone was in awe to see that the fire had now breached our side the mountain and we could see the flames coming down the mountain. We learned then that they had started evacuating the area. I called my parents to verify that the kids could stay there for the night and that I would be in touch if we are to evacuate.

John and I got home and all our neighbors were out watching the hill side going up in flames. At this point our little area was only on voluntary evacuation, but two streets up were on mandatory evacuation. John and I did pack up a few things just in case we were to become mandatory. We did not feel a need to leave unless forced to. By this time it was roughly just after 9pm. I went in the house to get the camera and here are some of the photo's taken at that time from our street in the front yard.
This was taken just after 9pm
This was about an hour later.
Just after 10pm.
30 min later


At this point I was a little nervous but felt sure that it would not breach our homes. I felt prepared if we had to leave and John was confident that all would be OK. Our only concern were the houses just up from us and wondering if they would survive the night.

By midnight over 1500 homes had been mandatory evacuation and several hundred more on voluntary evacuation. John and I were so tired and at the same time so wide awake. John had come to me about this time asking if I was hungry and I replied yes. He said we should see if there is a place open to grab a quick bite to eat. We both said In and Out Burger which is about 2 miles from our home. **This part of the evening is sorta funny*** As we were headed there we noticed that parts of Herriman had been blocked off to support evacuations and the fire fighters. John and I got our food and I noticed that they were not letting anyone back up the way we came. I remember telling him that if the street we normally use to head to our house is closed off I am going to be really mad. Since the things we packed up are sitting by the door at home and we still had my father's truck there. Well Sure enough they were not letting anyone back into the Herriman area. By this time I was not a very happy camper. Good thing I still had a plan to get us home.

We parked our van across the street at the Super Walmart and walked up and over Bangeter Hwy just past the road block where we walked to a gas station. It was there that I called our neighbor BJ who works for a fire dept in another city in the Salt Lake Valley and was off duty. He came to get us and took us home. The part that made me even more mad was that I was so upset about not getting home that I lost my appetite and never ate my food. In fact I left it in the van parked in the Walmart parking lot.

Once home I was calm and decided I would try and get some rest. About 3am I was still laying in bed wide awake watching the local news going over the latest on the fire along with updates on the mandatory evacuations. I was also complaining because the winds had shifted a little causing us to smell the fire. So at this point I decided to go out back and take more pictures. When I walked outside I was in awe on how much closer the fire was to us and how fast it had traveled.
This was taken about 1 or 1:30am in our back yard.
at 3am from our back yard
also just after 3am
I wish I had a much cooler camera to catch the details on the flames here because you could see them with the naked eye. It made it feel scary.

It was about 4am when we finally gave into some sleep to just be wakened again at 6am to head to my parents to get the kids since both my parents were headed out the door for work. When we got there the boys were still sleeping so John and I crashed in the basement guest room. We woke about 9am to take the kids home and to see what had become of our mountain. The fire was just starting to be come contained but at least the major part was over. In total there 1650 homes evacuated not including those who voluntarily left, 2 homes had gone up in flames, and lots of smoke and soot damage.
This is the mountain from our back yard taken about 10am. It is crazy to see how close it did come. The base of the mountain is just under a mile from our home and we back up to an open space.

The things we have learned through this is to keep the things that mean the most to us in a more central area so that if we ever have to leave under short notice that we can just grab and go. We are very thankful that the fire did not take out more homes and feel sadness for those who did lose their homes. Our whole community is so grateful to the wonderful fire fighters who worked hard and quickly to put this fire out.