10-alarm fire forces Herriman residents from homes again

Constantine said it has been difficult as his family has waited and wondered whether the home was still standing and if the horses were OK.

"We knew there was fire on the hill and that fire had surrounded the home. We kept getting these peeks through the smoke that well maybe the house was OK, maybe it's not,'' he said. "We were told the house was on fire, then we found out on the news that maybe it was just the garage burning. It's been hard to get good information, but that's expected.

"We’re very grateful for all the amazing men and women that were up there helping today," he said.

John and RoseAnn Vickery said they were hearing about the fire on television when they realized that their home was in the evacuation area.

“We were watching KSL and they had the mandatory evacuations in red,” John Vickery said.

They didn't realize how close the fire was until they left. “It’s close enough to where it’s scary,” he said.

“It was just right behind us,” his wife added.

“We packed all the important papers and those kind of things that we thought we would need,” John Vickery said. “Old family heirlooms, clothes enough for a couple of days and that was it. We didn’t take any of the non-essential stuff.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at a young couple he saw loading all of their essentials — guns and golf clubs.

“The fire here two years ago, the one at Camp Williams, when it came down the mountain it roared down.” John Vickery said.

“We had sheriffs on our street and they said to get packed up and be ready to go, which we did then too," he said. "But this time this is thing is roaring, really windy up there, and that stuff generates its own wind anyways. So we figured better safe then sorry, might as well do it when we’re calm and not have to panic and get out.”

Deja vu

Terry Sharp said he was at work when he heard that a fire was burning near his home.

"Probably about 4 o'clock, my wife texted and said, 'Pray for our house. The fire's in our backyard.'"

His wife and son only had time to grab a few things, including some 72-hour kits, before they quickly left.

"The flames right behind our fence weren't too big, just because there's not much but some grass there," his son Tyler Sharp said. "But other than that, it was mostly just dense smoke, I couldn't see very far."

For the Sharp family, the experience felt like was déjà vu.

"Same thing about a year ago. Same high school," Terry Sharp said from the temporary shelter at Herriman High.

Pat Storey couldn't help but remember being evacuated from her home because of a wildfire in 2010.

“Last time, someone came to the house, but this time we left before. And just as we were about ready to leave, we heard the doorbell ring,” she said. “I think it is closer this time than the last time, so I’m a little concerned. But I think maybe they’ll get it under control hopefully before anything happens.”

“We could see the flames about 20 yards beyond our backyard,” resident Kendell Glauser said. “We stayed until the cops came and told us to get out, so about the last minute that we could we were still at our house.”

Glauser said he, too, was evacuated from his home in 2010 and had an idea of what he needed to grab.

"I started gathering pictures, photo albums. I took all of the files … our important papers, birth certificates, took our family picture down off the mantle. We kind of just tore through the house grabbing everything," he said.