This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Draper • Small piles of gray ash peppered the roads and sidewalks, occasionally picked up by a light breeze. Thick yellow hoses crawled down the streets as crews packed up fire engines to return to the station.
And a charred hillside lay beyond it all, still smoldering next to the green lawns surrounding homes.
This was the scene of an early Wednesday morning grass-and-brush fire that threatened dozens of houses near Draper's Upper Corner Canyon, but crews turned back the flames without the loss of any structures.
Unified Fire Authority spokesman Eric Holmes said the blaze was reported about 1:30 a.m. near 12500 South and 2000 East. Firefighters arrived to find about two acres aflame, with gusty winds rapidly spreading the fire down a steep grade approaching three neighborhoods.
Residents of 39 homes were evacuated to a nearby church, where Utah Red Cross personnel helped them with their short-term needs for food and shelter. Residents were allowed back into their homes by early afternoon.
No injuries were reported, and while some fences burned, no homes were affected beyond minor smoke damage.
The fire came "too close for comfort," though, for Wendy Manzanares, a resident who saw the flames burning yards away from her home at 2 a.m. Fire singed bushes and trees in her backyard before crews turned it away from the property line.
"Everything happened so fast," she said. "It could have been a lot worse."
Manzanares, her husband and their daughter were evacuated from their home. She grabbed a computer with family photos before they rushed out the door.
She said she's grateful for crews and neighbors who helped protect homes during the "very overwhelming situation."
Assisted by crews from several other neighboring agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, about 100 firefighters used back-burning techniques to stop the flames from descending onto the homes.
"Just because there's not a lot of flames and smoke visible from the valley doesn't mean it's not a threat," said David Ulibarri, another Unified Fire Authority spokesman.
"We also did what we call 'point protection,' with our guys hopping from one home to another as the threats developed," Holmes said.
The fire had burned 44 acres of Draper and Forest Service lands but was fully contained by 8:45 p.m. A small crew remained to watch for any wind-whipped flareups and to douse hot spots.
Some residents stayed to hose down the fire themselves. Stephen Gibbons woke up about 2:30 a.m. to 30-foot flames coming at his house, he recalled.
"It was just a crazy fire," he said, adding that he used his sprinklers to keep the blaze away from his home, though about half his lawn was burned.
Gibbons has been living in the house for about three months. He moved up the street from a house that also had a fire creep near the backyard. Now he's worried about living in the neighborhood where homes sit on a dry and grassy slope.
While Jackie Overturf left her house with her three kids and dog, her husband and a "mystery man" hosed their back lawn. They were awakened by a loud knock on the door about 3:30 a.m. and then saw the "really scary" fire from their windows.
Overturf's house sits at the southern perimeter of the blaze's remains.
The cause of the fire was under investigation, but thunderstorms and lightning were reported in the area shortly before the fire ignited.
Hiking and cycling trails in the area were closed, city officials said.
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