Invasive plant species in our wetlands and lakes

[cat_man]

Here is another big danger caused by those same damned reeds:

Sunday, July 04, 2004 - 12:00 AM [url "http://www.harktheherald.com/print.php?sid=28410"][/url] | [url "http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Recommend_Us&file=index&req=FriendSend&sid=28410"][/url]

[url "http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=28410&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0"][#800080]Saratoga Springs blaze likely sparked by fireworks[/#800080][/url]

Caleb Warnock DAILY HERALD



Children playing with fireworks are believed to have ignited a 60-acre wildfire that erupted among 20-foot-tall dried reeds along the edge of Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs on Saturday evening, nearly destroying dozens of homes.

Hundred-foot flames came so close to Mark Ridderhoff's home that his satellite dish melted, he said. [url "http://adserver.harktheherald.com/adclick.php?n=a4616ee2"][/url]

"These tendrils of fire were going up 100 feet," he said. "Our next-door neighbors and everyone came out with their hoses and we wet everything down, but it would not have saved it. When the fire got within 100 feet, my wet coat was steaming and I knew we had to get out in just a moment."

Though flames came within inches of homes, no house was burned, said Saratoga Springs Fire Chief Dave Vickers. Firefighters from Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Lehi, Utah County, Pleasant Grove and the Bureau of Land Management narrowly saved homes by pouring water over them as the flames bore down. A helicopter also dropped water on the blaze, which began at 4:25 p.m.

"The flames came right up to the houses," Vickers said. "Garden hoses don't put out enough volume to mitigate the radiating heat this fire created, and without enough water and without protective clothing, it chased homeowners off their roofs where they had been spraying their homes with water."

At the last moment, firefighters pushed the blaze back just enough to save the homes, he said.

Crews were forced to cut down trees to keep the flames from spreading.

"We had to remove the fuel," Vickers said. "The fire was spreading both north and south, and as the danger passed one home, it kind of leapfrogged our attack. This is a lakeshore fire, and some of the homes have vegetation that goes right up to the homes."

It is illegal to use fireworks in the area where the fire started, Vickers said.

"We have several reports that juveniles started the fire with firecrackers, and that is under investigation," he said.

Ridderhoff said that ever since he moved into his home four years ago he has been afraid a fire might start in the dry reeds along the lake.

"These reeds are not there naturally," he said. "They grow up and go very dry, and they are taking over the lake. Since we moved here four years ago, they have grown twice as far out into the lake. I have these reeds growing three feet from my balcony. We were afraid that if a fire came through here it would take these houses."

When firefighters told Ridderhoff and his wife to stop spraying their roof and start removing valuables from their home, Ridderhoff said he felt nothing could save the house from the flames bearing down on it.

"There was so much smoke I couldn't see," he said. "I just had this feeling it is going to be gone. With a little more wind, we could have lost $20 million of houses, and no one is taking responsibility. There is nobody that knows what to do about this reed, or how to organize or what to do. Last year they burned some of the reeds to the ground, and it was right back this year with 20-foot-high reeds.

"It is an uncharted hazard."

Orem firefighters also extinguished a half-acre brush fire near 1200 North and 800 East. The blaze, which is under investigation, started around 7 p.m.


[i]Caleb Warnock can be
reached at 344-2543.[/i]This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1. There are 4 comments on this story
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