Wildfire and Fireworks: Part I

Naturally Diana's baby shower trumped coverage of the 4th of July but here we go with the Family Fourth Extravaganza! well, we celebrated, at least!

The week began normally enough. Hot, hot days and lots of sunshine. On Tuesday I was returning from Orem where I received an amazing neck traction massage and a great spinal crunch at Dr. King and his Utah Physiatry Clinic. I was feeling good, the traffic on I-15 was smooth, then I saw this as I exited the freeway...

That little plume of smoke was the "Quail Fire" just beginning. It seems a bulldozer or backhoe at a construction site sparked it. By the time I got home a few minutes later it looked like this from our kitchen window...

Only about 20 minutes later it was forcing evacuations in the city of Alpine. It raged out of control for two days making many people homeless for awhile. Fortunately it only burned one structure, a large barn, thanks to the hard work of many firefighters.

 I caught these shots later that same day as I took Rachel to work out at Thanksgiving Point. (She's got a new job at the Deli out there!) The whole mountainside went up like the dry tinder that it was.

 I borrowed the next photo from a friend's Facebook post. That's the Mt. Timpanogos Temple with the fire raging behind. It looks very close but was really far enough away to not be a concern to us in American Fork.

It's an awesome sight, is it not? I love the symbolism I see in this picture. The storms of life may rage around us but there is safety in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the temple covenants we make.

The community of Suncrest up on Traverse Mountain was standing by for evacuations too. It was quite a night.  Rachel was kept busy all evening at the Deli feeding  Alpine evacuees who were filling the two hotels out at the Point.

The next morning the 4th of July dawned bright and hot. Would there be anything left growing on those beautiful hills?

Stay tuned...