WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah — It'd be hard to find anyone who knows the town of Pine Valley better than Mary Esther Putnam. She grew up in the community in a house built generations ago by her great-grandfather, pioneer Robert Gardner.
"I was raised in that home," she explained. "Me and my four siblings, with no inside water or inside plumbing. My son was five years old, he said to me, 'Mom, when you die, will all the pioneers be gone?'"
Since the Forsyth Fire was sparked on Thursday, Putnam's been watching closely as her sons have been at the ready with hoses at the family home. But while the house is safe for now, it's tough on this close community.
"We've been on fires and we've helped, and we've seen devastation, but we didn't know any of the people that were involved. But with this one, we go home at night feeling for the people who are our neighbors and our friends," Putnam said Monday.
How can you protect your home from wildfire destruction?
That's what's been especially difficult for Putnam. She said she was looking back at her journal over the weekend, and something struck her.
"It's amazing as I was reading through it, some of the names of the people that are in that journal who have lost their homes in this fire, it looks and feels a little bit like Armageddon, but it is what it is," she shared." Those people who lost their homes, I've been in every one of those homes. I'm friends with all those people, and I could tell you stories about every one of them.
"Fortunately, they all have other places to live."
Why Utah's mountain regions see the biggest wildfires:
With 13 homes gone and the rest not quite out of the woods yet, you'd imagine there's a lot of stress. But Putnam's trying to keep it in check.
"Somebody said, 'What if your house burns?' and I said, 'I've been thinking for a long time, I've got a lot of clothes in my closet. I ought to go through and take them to [Deseret Industries]. Maybe I won't have to."
