2012 Utah wildfires

Image by Ischa1

“In the last days…I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.”

Acts 2:17, 19

One of the signs of the last days is “fire, and vapour of smoke.”

Over the last ten years about 300,000-4,000,000 acres have burned in the United States each year.  One of the largest wildfires ever recorded was the Great Fire of 1910, where three million acres of land burned in Idaho and Montana.  Though there have been wildfires for 1000s of years, there’s been a surprising amount of wildfires this season.

In Utah alone, there have been over 400 fires this year.  While some wildfires were caused by natural causes, such as lightning and sunlight, others were spurred on by humans- sparks from vehicles, ricocheting bullets, campfires and cigarette buds.  Of the 400+ fires in Utah this year, about 380 were caused by human activity.

Over the last week, wildfires in Colorado and Utah have hit the news spotlight.

Here’s some information about three major wildfires that started within a day of each other.

Three Utah wildfires in two days

Wood Hollow Fire

• Started June 23, 2012
• Burned over 46,000 acres
• Caused by human activity
• Over 56 structures destroyed

Seeley Fire

• Started June 23, 2012
• Burned over 18,000 acres
• Caused by lightning

Church Camp Fire

• Started June 24, 2012
• Burned over 4,000 acres
• Caused by human activity

“I’d rather fight 100 structure fires than a wildfire. With a structure fire you know where your flames are, but in the woods it can move anywhere; it can come right up behind you.”  

- Tom Watson

Personal Notes:  This last week while driving south on I-15 in Utah, I could see smoke all across Utah Valley.  I saw thick smoke across Utah Lake.  Although the fire was miles away, it smelled really bad in Provo.  I feel for those who live close to the fire because of all the smoke they have to deal with.  Some of our relatives live between the Seeley and Wood Hollow Fires in Sanpete County.  While some of their neighbors have evacuated, luckily their town hasn’t been evacuated yet.