Just In! Lone Peak Totally Burned Down!

Unless you have no sense of sight or smell then the fire that started near Corner Canyon that eventually consumed a large portion of Lone Peak is nothing short of old news. The blaze was witnessed by nearly every resident of Sandy, Draper, and probably the whole of Salt Lake County, filling our sky with smoke and adding to our already bad air quality. When fires strike I have mixed emotions regarding the situation. On one hand (and especially in this case) it is an utter shame to watch such a pretty spectacle of nature get destroyed so quickly. Fire can change even the lushest of green and brown landscapes into a smokey, burnt, and black travesty, and such is the case at the base of Lone Peak. What was a beautiful Wasatch mountain yesterday now looks like a scene near Mt. Doom from The Lord of the Rings today.

On the other hand, however, large wildfires are very intriguing. Even though they represent an element of destruction, I find that there is also a touch of grace and a beauty in the smoke and red flames. This is especially applicable at night, when the flames are most visible. I remember during last year's fourth of July someone had started a fire of considerable size on the North-Western face of Lone Peak. I was surprised to find that many, many people had lined to streets or secured a spot on their rooftops to watch the fire continue it's course, treating the blaze more as a peaceful spectacle than a threat.

For me it is also a chance to witness the scope of human ingenuity and organization. Along with a severe enough fire comes an armada of technology as a remedy. Fire fighters, fire trucks, helicopters, spotter plans, and large retardant tankers are just a few among the many tricks up societies sleeve to battle infernos like today's.



Reporting, strangely enough, from his comfortable bed in Sandy,
Chad

P.S. I wish I could take credit for these incredibly applicable pictures, but alas, I got them off of KSL. So if you are the taker of these photos and want credit or compensation please contact me and I will give you $2.50 or something agreeable.