Fire destroys buildings, home in New Harmony

NEW HARMONY, Washington County — Calling it an "all hands on deck" situation, Gov. Gary Herbert said firefighting resources from all over the state and the Mountain West, including a couple of hundred Type 1 wildfire crews, will be on hand today to battle an out-of-control wildfire that destroyed nearly a dozen structures in the town of New Harmony over the weekend.

At least 11 buildings, including a primary residence estimated by neighbors to be worth between $500,000 to $1 million, a guest cabin, a secondary home and at least eight outbuildings (including barns and sheds) had been destroyed by the fire as of Sunday evening.

The good news, however, is there were no injuries.

Also Sunday, the National Forest Service issued an apology to the residents of New Harmony and the governor promised to find ways to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

"I'm very sorry to the community of New Harmony for their losses," said Bevan Killpack, Pine Valley District ranger for the Dixie National Forest.

Many New Harmony residents, however, were angry at the Forest Service on Sunday, saying the fire should have been put out long ago, when it was small and manageable. Some of those residents expressed their frustrations Sunday night at a town hall meeting with Forest Service officials.

Others, who were evacuated, gathered at a convenience store just off I-15 at the New Harmony exit and watched in anger as the mountainside around their homes burned.

"I'm upset. I'm very upset," said Don Ondrisko, who left Thursday night to visit his other cabin in another area, only to be denied access to his New Harmony home when he returned. "They thought (the fire) was doing more good than bad (in its initial stages), and now look at what you got. Somebody made a big mistake. All this could have been avoided."

Just last Wednesday, a town meeting was held with officials from the Forest Service. Many residents voiced their opinions during that meeting that they wanted the effort to put out the fire stepped up. At least one longtime resident even predicted the fire would grow out of control if they didn't, said Teresa Larsen, who owns a house with her husband and children in New Harmony.

"It's a shame. It didn't have to happen," she said. "It's just sad. The town has been begging, 'Get this thing out.' It just didn't have to happen," she said. "They had so many chances when it was so small."

Still others felt someone simply made a "severe miscalculation" on managing the fire.