The Mountains on Fire

Recently there were two very large fires that in spots merged into one.  These were wildfires.  The Bald Mountain Fire, and the Pole Canyon Fire. According to Heraldextra.com "The two fires burned a combined 120,851 acres, and at their peak caused more than 6,000 people to evacuate their homes from the cities of Woodland Hills and Elk Ridge and several smaller communities including Covered Bridge at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon."

Many of these homes are close by.  We knew several people who were evacuated, and there were many, many more that we didn't know.  We had relatives, church friends, and basketball friends who had to leave their homes for over a week.  Jake's high school was a Red Cross Relief station, and for a good week or more there were people staying in campers in the high school parking lot.

It was an interesting and sad time.  We do not like to have our beautiful mountains burn!  At the same time, it was a good time to watch people help one another.  The Red Cross didn't have a lot to do, and we heard that a request had gone out for 200 plates and they ended up with closer to 10,000.  Everyone wanted to help in some way.  We couldn't go up into the mountains to fight the fire, but we tried to help those who were displaced by it.  Here are some pictures and a little commentary on them.

This was taken at Dan's soccer game.  It was during this soccer game that we heard about Elk Ridge being evacuated.
This is when the fire started coming over the top of the mountain onto our side.

 One thing I appreciated at this game was to hear a friend of mine talking to one of the soccer Moms on the phone who had just found out she was being evacuated and was upset.  Her house is new!  My friend was very kind and sympathetic and took care of making sure the daughter of the person being evacuated got home -- before they had to leave.

This girl whose family was being evacuated started to cry when she found out.  I loved that her friends hugged her and told her that it was okay to cry because it was scary, but they kindly reminded her that her family was fine and that probably their house would be okay too.

This helicopter landed in the adjoining soccer field twice during the game, making it a little hard to concentrate on what was happening in Dan's game!  Supplies were loaded into the helicopter and flown off toward the burning mountains.

I would occasionally step outside into the smoky air to take a picture from my porch.  I would send these to sisters-in-law that were on different sides of the mountain and they would send me pictures in return.

Another picture from my porch.  What I never captured was how in the morning you could see smoke drifting down the road at street level.  Occasionally ash would fall from the sky, but not as much as I thought there might be!

Derek was in Indianapolis.  I went briefly to a church activity and took this picture and the next one on my way home.  I had a friend beside me taking pictures too.  It really was a lot more dramatic looking in person, and so we all constantly tried to capture just how awful, and magnificent it was.

The mountain in the foreground is "P" Mountain (For Payson).  Kayli hikes it frequently.
We figured there isn't a lot of vegetation on P mountain and so if it got that far it would be easier to put out.
The fire was farther away than it looked though.

The night the mountains were burning so badly on our side I walked down the block to take pictures.
This was taken close to the top of our road.

This was taken from a road over.  When I was fairly close to the corner I could see that there were a lot of people gathered there taking pictures and looking through binoculars.  I found some friends who let me look through their binoculars and enjoyed visiting in between snapping pictures of the mountains.  I sent pictures to Derek in Indianapolis, and found that he had already received some from friends.

The good news is that there are still pretty fall colors in the mountains.  There are big black sides too, but not everything is gone, and there is beauty to be found.  The last few days we've received so much rain that mud slides and flooding were a problem.  The community got together and made sandbags, and most damage was averted.  Our mountains are beautiful, and the people here are really good people who love the mountains, but love each other more.

With no rain in the forecast, a small storm came through giving people hope that the firemen would have some help.
The rainbow seemed to bring hope for good things to come.

This picture was taken by a friend.  It is the Payson Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
with the mountain burning behind it.  Our Savior is present in our sorrows and our joys!