The picture to the right is a picture of the
second Herriman fire. My dad, Warren
Firefighters are always there for us when we need them.
I remember the first time I ever saw a wildfire; I was seven,
and I did not understand what was going on. The fire was up in the
mountains near Mt. Timpanogos just east of my house, about 20 miles
away. Even from that far away I could see the bright glow of flames
slowly consuming trees and other plant life in the canyon. I sat outside
of my house on the porch stairs as I watched the flickering glow coming
from the fire, as well as the flashing lights of dozens of fire trucks. I bet
that there were at least fifty firefighters working to put out that fire. I
remember that it happened on the 24 of July. My extended family came
over to my house, and we were outside playing games in the yard and
preparing to light some fireworks. Instead of a firework show, we got to
watch a wildfire show.
I remember the next time I saw a wildfire; it was on the
mountain right next to my neighborhood. Not two miles away a huge
wildfire came up over the far side of the mountain close to Camp
Williams and crawled over onto the Herriman side of the mountain. It
was said that the fire was caused by a bullet-- shot by one of the soldiers
at Camp Williams-- ricocheted off of a rock, which caused a small spark.
Now Utah, in general, is a dry state, and the plant life on the mountains
near Herriman is also quite dry; mostly weeds, trees, sage brush, and dry
grass. Normally a small spark would not cause any damage or harm, but
it was a very windy day out, and the spark managed to light a small
patch of dry grass on fire. That patch quickly grew into a small field,
then half of the hill side, and very soon the entire
The picture to the right is a picture of the
first Herriman fire. I took this picture from
the bottom of the hill that was burning.
This fire had not yet burned down all the
way to the houses, but it was getting close.
Picture caption
By Rebecca Cummings
hill was covered in flames.
It is amazing how fast a fire can spread; one minute it is just a
small flame, barely able to stay alight, and the next moment it has spread
across a small field. Fire, by itself, is very dangerous. Fire with wind as
an ally is ten times more dangerous. The wind spread the fire across the
mountain like water spilling over a table. In just a few minutes the fire
had grown out of control. It climbed over the mountain, one extremely
tall, and extremely big wall of flames. In some areas the flames were
about 30 feet tall!
I have never seen such a terrifying, yet indescribably beautiful
site in my life. There is something about fire that is fascinating to watch.
Fire is a beautiful thing; I love to watch the flames while sitting at a
campfire. The flames dance and crackle. The fire coming over the
mountain was a sight to behold. I could not believe what my eyes were
seeing, as I looked at one of nature’s colossal creations. I was petrified
by fear of the gigantic flames, while at the same time entranced by the
beauty of the flames.
As I was watching the flames, dozens of fire trucks and
ambulances were heading up the mountain towards the fire. There was
even a plane flying overhead dumping a red fire retardant over the
unburned land, and a helicopter dumping water onto the flames. I like to
watch the firefighters; to see them working hard, trying to put out the
flames before the flames destroy many houses. But I also worry about
them. I do not believe that any of the firefighters who worked on this
Cummings, was standing outside of our
house on the street when he took this
picture, The picture shows the hillside
slowly burning and you can see how close
the fire has gotten to some of the houses.
The picture was taken at about 8:30 PM. I
was also outside with my dad when he took
this picture, watching the fire burn. The
firefighters had managed to put out about
half the fire by the time this picture was
taken.
fire died or got seriously injured, but it is always a risk. house, and even a few of the houses and sheds near her house, but the
This experience was one of the scariest moments of my life. I firemen managed to save her house. There were about ten different
was about ten years old at the time, and I was truly afraid that my house buildings destroyed in the second Herriman fire, and half of the
would be burned down. I remember my mom holding me in her arms, mountain side was burned up again. The firemen did their job and
trying to calm me down as she explained that we would be safe. Looking protected us from the fire. Even though it took them the entire evening,
back on this experience I have come to realize that my family was truly and part of the night, they stayed diligent in putting out the flames.
safe because of the fire fighters. If not for the fire fighters the flames I believe that we, as a society, owe all of the firefighters a huge
would have spread a lot farther and destroyed a lot more property. debt. They have saved our houses, our land, our lives, our friends and
The fire fighters gave my family a chance to survive family. They are always there for us, and they risk their own lives. At
untouched by the fire. I wish to give something back to them. Over the each of those fires there were at least twenty firemen. And most of them
years they have protected Herriman from many fires, big and small. I probably had families of their own that they had a risk of never seeing
believe that they should be recognized for their service. And it is not just again if they had died trying to put a fire out. I wish to thank the firemen
the firefighters in Herriman that deserve to be recognized for their for their service. For they have given me protection from the flames; at
service. All of the firefighters from Utah, and other places like California all of these fires, the firefighters were always there to protect and serve
and Arizona deserve to be recognized, too. They have saved countless the people.
lives, while selflessly putting themselves in harm’s way to do so. I am
truly grateful for firefighters.
The next time a fire destroyed the recovering mountain, it was
caused by an overheated car that had been parked near a patch of dry “Firefighters go where they’re
grass by its owner that lived in a house up the canyon. The heat of the
needed, sometimes ignoring the
dangers even when no one is
engine caused the dry grass to ignite, and fire once again spread across
inside a burning building to be
saved.”
the mountain. That fire was right next to my friend’s house, but by some
miracle, her house was not damaged at all. It burned the trees around her
- Bill Dedman