STOCKTON, Utah — A Tooele County fire allegedly started by a man with a history of arson arrests came dangerously close to homes in a Stockton neighborhood, where people in the community leaned on each other for help.
“It’s just a small community, everybody knows each other, everybody helps each other, and everybody is kind of quiet," explained Stockton resident Mark Tate.
The Tate home is usually surrounded by kids, animals, and the sound of nature. But Wednesday, it was surrounded by flames.
“We started smelling the smoke," said Tate. "I got up to check it out, and there was, up behind the house, like 20-foot flames up on the hill coming right towards the backyard.”
In a matter of minutes, the Tates needed to come up with a plan.
“[Tate's wife was] with the kids, dealing with that. I’m over there dealing with something else, and we had multiple neighbors over here just jumping in and helping. A deputy was in there trying to push the animals out and get them out of the gate," Tate said.
Firefighters responded quickly and were able to stop the fire's progress, but it wasn’t the only brush fire in the county. Another one had ignited in the Lake Point area just a couple of hours before the one in Stockton.
“Our deputies responded to the area and identified a suspect through surveillance footage, witness statement, and vehicle information. They were able to connect the suspect to both fires," said Tooele County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Dane Lerdahl.
Timothy West was for allegedly starting the fires. FOX 13 News first reported on West in 2014 when he was previously arrested for arson.
Although the damage of the Stockton fire was minimal, neighbors said it put them in an unsafe situation.
“It’s devastating, they lost all their hay. Their winter stock up," resident John Graft said of a neighbor. "My parents' camp trailer got burnt all the way underneath. There’s no telling how much damage there actually is."
Graft hopes to gather more people in the community to help neighbors clean up debris and brush.
“I’m going up there tomorrow to clean up the weeds and whatever else was burnt," he said.
Despite the situation, neighbors are glad the damage wasn't worse. With all animals accounted for, and a roof still over their heads, the Tates said they’ll be spending their night prepping a “Go Bag” in case of another emergency.
“We’re having a family activity tonight, actually, where we're going to be building and putting them together," said Ashley Tate of the family's emergency preps. "The kids all are making lists of what they think we need to put in there. I think it was not only a learning experience for us, but for our kids, too.”
