This post is dedicated to my awesome husband who has been working his tail off this week to help put out the Herriman fire. Here is a little bit about what has been going on with us this week. On Sunday afternoon we first heard about the fire out on Camp Williams. Because Sam is an engine boss of one of the fire crews on Camp Williams he knew there was a possibility that he would be called in. He made a phone call to range control on base, and they told him he wasn't needed yet, but to be on standby. We left to go to my Grandparents house for a family dinner, and this is about what it looked like at 5:30 pm on our way there.
As soon as we sat down to eat dinner at 6:00 Sam got the phone call that he was needed right away. So without even eating his dinner he took off. Me and the boys stayed to finish dinner and visit with family, not really aware of what was going on out there on the mountain. As we started packing up to go home around 8:00 I noticed that I had missed some calls, and had a message from Sam. He said that they were evacuating families and that Maria, my sister who lives in Herriman, should find out if she needed to evacuate. We went out to the cars and were absolutly shocked by what we saw. The fire had spread so fast, and from were we stood on my Grandparents front porch in Riverton we could see the fire pretty well. I wish I had my camera with me, but it looked somewhat like this, only it was darker and you could see it better.
Maria and Chase took off pretty fast to get to their home, and start packing. When I got home I immediatly turned on the TV to watch the fire on news. Shortly after I got a call from Sam. He said that they were moving him to a bulldozer crew to dig fire breaks around the perimeter of the fire to try and stop it from spreading. I sat up for hours, watching it on the news, and worring about how he was. Around 11:00 I got a text saying that his crew had been pulled out twice because it had got to dangerous to be in there because of how fast it was moving. The winds were blowing fast and the fire was moving like crazy. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well that night, but I can't complain because Sam didn't sleep at all. He stayed out there all night, and all day Monday. I can't imagine what I would be like being in the middle of this:
Sam spent all day Monday working with the helicopters, circling aroung the fire and telling them were they needed to dump the water, and flame retartant. He finally got home around 8:00 monday evening, very tired, and excited to get some rest. He headed back out early Tuesday morning, and spent the whole day with his fire crew digging out "hot spots". He also got to go up in a helicopter to get a get a great view of all the damage. He came home late tuesday evening covered in soot. His face was totally black except for were his sunglasses has been.
They had managed to get the fire 50% contained by the end of Tuesday night. They still have a lot of work ahead of them, and the fire season is still not over.
Monday morning Sam was at a press confenference with the Govenor, where Gov. Herbert said that it was a miracle that more homes weren't burned. He gave special praise to the men who operated the bulldozers to build the fire breaks around the fire. They really did some amazing work out there, and I am very proud of my awesome husband and all the other amazing men and women who helped stop this fire from burning down hundreds of homes. These guys really are heros.
