JUAB COUNTY, Utah — The Iron and Cherry fires tore through thousands of acres last month. Some people in the community watched those acres burn live through their trail cameras.
Mike Clayson lives in Utah County and has seen it all, growing up hunting between the trees near Eureka with his dad.
Clayson loves wildlife. Throughout the years, his trail cameras have picked up images and videos of mule deer, cougars and more. That’s why he and his brothers put up about 75 cameras between Eureka and Vernon.
Unfortunately, when the fires rolled through, it was only a matter of minutes before nearly all of his cameras were melted and destroyed.
“In some of the videos with the fire, you can hear the wind taking it,” Clayson said. "We have some time-lapse stuff, and it was probably 10 minutes, and this fire went 400 yards to destroy the cameras. You’d see four or five videos from the camera and then it would shut off because it would have melted by then."
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Clayson and his brothers scouted the area over the weekend and found everything covered in ash and debris — a brittle and bare scenery he’s not used to seeing.
"The areas we hunt in, where my dad took me — he’s no longer with us — so his two favorite areas, one is just dirt; there’s nothing left. The other was big pine trees and it’s just sticks left,” Clayson added. "I think that’s the difference — the cameras are gone and that’s really sad, but the area is forever changed."
Although he’s just left with the memories, he said he’s grateful the firefighters were able to help save the communities he loves.
His brother set up a GoFundMe to help him with the damage to his trail cameras.
