In the last month there has been the flooding on the east coast reeking havoc on those of you back there.

This week, the USFS decided to do a "prescribed burn" of approximately 600 acres in the Cascade Springs area here in Utah. (Cascade Springs is a travertine terrace water feature on the eastside of Mt Timpanogos and about 3 miles up the draw from HVRR's Decker Bay siding along Deer Creek Reservoir).

Yep, the winds unexpectedly picked up and the fire jumped the "prescribed" boundry. By Thursday morning, as I arrived on the property, the fire had burned down toward the lake and was within a 1/2 mile of the line that morning. I was asked to conduct on the Media train that would pick up Media Representatives off of the regular Soldier Hollow Express at Decker, taking them out an additional 2 miles to observe the fire crews, chopper water drops, damage, etc. We then ran them back to Heber to meet their deadlines; returning with our two CONX tankcars of water to provide support for the crews.

I'll abbreviate from this point. Thursday the fire went south both figuratively and literally. It jumped the track from just west of Decker to MP 9 and on Friday the lakeside of the track burned up to almost MP 10. Thursday night we were permitted back into the area after the winds died to take care of tie fires and check damage. Friday we were able to monitor the line throughout the day catching the burning tie butts before the damage was too great. Our contracted Track Inspectors (John Martinez and Danny Archuleta) were on the line Thursday night and again Friday night and gave the okay to run regular trains Saturday.

The 600 acres will probably end up being over 11000. The railroad will need to replace about 300 ties. What good that has come from the fire is a much improved relationship between the railroad and local fire officials. As a local TV reporter summed up her story last night on the news, she stated that the fire was brought under control with the help of # of firefighters, 6 helicopters, 3 bombers, ...and a hundred year old railroad.

utweyesguy@aol.com