The fire continued to blaze.
The only thing we could see of the active fire was a section of houses closest to the hillside.
And they were getting covered in smoke.
I saw white brush fire trucks in driveways...
"I betcha they're getting evacuated right now."
News hadn't said anything yet, but I knew what I saw.
(and plus I'd be getting out of there if I was them.)
So, eager to see more (and with permission from firefighters to go see but stay out of the way),
the kids and I packed up the van and went to see what we could see.
As we passed Neptune park, not only fire crew were camped out,
but also news crews.
KSL, Fox, ABC...
The first subdivision was completely blocked of entering.
And exit only.
And we saw the fire trucks going house to house,
firemen knocking doors and telling residents they needed to leave.
We watched residents load up their vehicles and back out of their driveways.
We saw the helicopters dumping water.
The next subdivision wasn't blocked, so we went in.
Everyone had their garages open,
vehicle hatches open,
and were loading up belongings for evacuation.
Many were backing out of their driveways.
I talked with one family who hiked up the hill at the edge of their subdivision to see how close the fire was. They had everything packed and ready to go.
Then a firetruck came past and said it was getting too dangerous and it was time to get out of there.
As we drove out, we could see the smoke, and were praying the smoke we saw wasn't from the houses.
We went down to check on some of our friends further south from us.
But they were already gone. Packed up and heading to family in Draper.
They were only voluntary evacuation, but I figured they knew what to do because they went through this last year and were under mandatory evacuation last time.
On our way back up north to our home, we saw some residents getting a good view of the fire from their rooftops.
They didn't stay up there much longer after we left.
Debany had a hard time understanding why construction crews were still working when all the evacuations were going on.
Here's a picture of a construction crew with the same rooftop view in mind.
The fire started Thursday at about 11:30am.
We watched it rage all day and consume many hillsides.
We saw the glow and flames at night.
Friday morning, the flames grew closer to Eagle Mountain, and mandatory evacuations started.
750 acres burnt.
Then the wind changed direction and the fire drove toward the lake.
Saratoga Springs began to have evacuations.
By 2pm - 1600 acres burnt.
By 8pm - 4000 acres burnt.
Winds were strong all day. The fire was jumping 25-30 foot gaps.
And the whole of Utah County valley was covered in smoke.
Reports were saying ash was falling in Draper and all they way into Wyoming.
We watched the glow of the mountain horizon knowing there was still a big fire raging...
ONLY to find out that the fire flared up again near Eagle Mountain.
That was typical of this fire. When you thought it was out, it started up again.
We just hoped that there weren't going to be more evacuations through the night.
Saturday morning, we woke and the sky was amazingly clear.
We could see a smidgeon of smoke on the mountain horizon, but the fire was calm.
More winds brought more fire and smoke.
Saturday, 5pm, mandatory evacuations were lifted and people could go home.
We can still see fire on the mountain horizon.
As we drove home, we had to go around Neptune Park to get to our street. Firetrucks lined the park roads, tons of tents were erected, and some firemen just camped out on the grass. Tents were up for meeting areas and food for firemen still awake.
We couldn't believe how many there were.
And the teams from Idaho had arrived.
We'll see what Sunday has to offer our firefighters.
