As Springville resident Mark Spencer and his wife pulled out of their driveway Wednesday night, they saw firefighters ”running into our backyard.”
They kept their eyes fixed on the tops of two trees behind their home, knowing that as long as those two trees remained unburned, their house was OK.
If firefighters had waited another 30 seconds, Spencer said, he’s convinced the flames would have reached his home of 15 years.
“It was pretty intense,” he said.
The lightning-sparked 30-acre wildfire burned within 10 to 15 feet of Spencer’s residence, he said Thursday. Twenty to 30 homes on the east side of the city were evacuated, according to Springville police Lt. Warren Foster.
Lightning struck grass near 1600 North and 400 East at 6:45 p.m., police say, and wind pushed the fire south a third of a mile along the foothills.
Spencer watched as the flames grew closer. When it neared his property, Spencer told his wife to ”get anything in the car that you want to save” because he knew they’d be evacuated, he told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Within about 30 seconds of going into their home, Spencer said the fire was ”at our back door.”
“A lot of these people were able to fend off the fire with a garden hose,” Foster said. ”That tells you it was pretty close ... within 100 feet.”
Neighbors also tried assisting firefighters by running buckets of water to put out ”little spots,” Spencer said, until they were called off for fear of smoke inhalation.
When Spencer and his wife arrived back at the home later that night, Spencer said, the grass was charred within 10 to 15 feet of their house. Next-door neighbors had lost about 10 feet of grass in their yard, according to Spencer.
But none of the houses were damaged, Foster confirmed.
Rain helped crews from Springville, Mapleton, Provo and Spanish Fork control the fire, Foster said. The flames were extinguished by 8:30 p.m., and residents were allowed back into their homes Wednesday evening.
On Thursday, Spencer said crews had been in the area mopping up hot spots.
“I‘m very pleased with how they’re taking care of things,” the resident said.
This is the third fire to have burned near the homes since 2002, Spencer said, but the others only came within about 100 and 200 feet of their residence.
”This was way too close,” he added.
After a wildfire destroys vegetation on a slope, Foster said there’s ”always” a possibility of landslides, especially if the area sees “torrential downpours.”
However, this ”wasn’t a slow burn. It was a fast burn, so likely there’s still roots” in the ground to hold it together, he said.
