FARM CREEK, Uintah County — Edson Gardner lumbered his truck over the red dirt road, blackened by the wildfire that swept through here.
"This is hard to believe," he said.
As he pulled up to the homestead of his aging mother, tears welled in his eyes.
There was nothing left.
The people living in this area of eastern Utah went back to their homes Wednesday after authorities lifted an evacuation order. For some, it was the first time they'd seen their homes since they were forced to flee for their lives last week. They allowed a Deseret Morning News reporter and photographer to accompany them on their emotional return Wednesday.
The heartbreak and tragedy of those who lost their homes was a stark contrast to the thrill for those returning to find their homes still standing.
It came as firefighters made significant progress in fighting the Neola North Fire, which has burned more than 42,000 acres and is now about 50 percent contained.
Heartbreaking loss
Edson Gardner's lips began to tremble as he described the heartbreak of his 67-year-old mother returning to the burned-out wreckage of her home.
"She's taking it hard. She wants to get back home. She wants to get her place back up here," Gardner said, his voice choking with emotion. "I'm going to get her a place back up here. I'll pull a double-wide trailer up here or something. See if one of these organizations will help us replace what she's lost."
All that was recognizable of Colleen Gardner's home was some torched appliances and a few old cars. Nearby, the burned carcass of a cat was found. The out-of-control wildfire moved quickly through here, generating a cyclone-like wind. Witnesses described it like fingers reaching across the range land, destroying some parts yet leaving others untouched.
"The sheriff said, 'You guys got five minutes to get out,"' Gardner recalled.
He hurried his mother, sister and her baby girl into a car as the flames moved closer.
"That's where the flames was coming from," Gardner said as he motioned toward Roger Roberson's fields, one of three men who died in the fire. "I'd never seen anything like it. But it was comin'. The only thing we could hope to do was get out."
Colleen Gardner begged her sons to take her late husband's ceremonial buffalo skull with them. They left just as the flames started to burn her home.
Walking through the devastation on Wednesday, Edson Gardner had tears in his eyes.
"I'm just thinking about my grass roots and the way I spent most of my life. I grew up here. I see this place. This is my home," he said. "When you've got a home, you've got your roots."
As Gardner walked on, helicopters overhead dropped water on the mountains nearby.
Firefighting
The hundreds of firefighters working the Neola North Fire have made significant progress, despite many difficulties. The wildfire has torched more than 42,000 acres and is now about 50 percent contained, fire officials told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday night.
The dark clouds moved over the mountains late Wednesday, kicking up strong winds that are prompting officials to watch homes in the area more closely. The Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team said the blaze has now moved away from homes and buildings into the high timber of the Ashley National Forest. Fire officials said the weather, drought-stricken fuels and areas devastated by bark-beetle infestations, are giving firefighters new challenges.
"This high pressure system gets in here and every day, those fuels get drier, and drier, and drier," incident commander trainee Marc Mullinox said.
Nearly 800 fire personnel are working to suppress the blaze. About 100 Utah National Guard members are also involved, providing security for the area including maintaining roadblocks.
"I'm happy to be here," said Maj. David Horlacher. "This is an opportunity for us to do our state mission and help our people stay safe."
Two firefighters were injured Wednesday. One suffered an injured knee. Another suffered a chainsaw cut on his hand, authorities said. The man was brought off the front lines and taken by ambulance to a Roosevelt hospital, where he received a few stitches.
"When you put this many people in a dangerous environment, people get a little fatigued, maybe get a little rushed sometimes," Mullinox said.
Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the Neola North Fire.
Spared by fire
"I always knew I was so incredibly blessed to have this place," Lewis Cooper said. "I guess I get it another little while."
Cooper was anxious to return to his home in Whiterocks Canyon. Inside his truck, he packed boxes of family photos, a few guitars and the saddle that belonged to his wife's mother.
"It's the contents of our lives that was worth saving," he said Wednesday.
They fled Saturday, taking what they could as the fire raged. His wife, who suffers from West Nile virus, rode a horse out of the canyon to escape the fire.
As he drove the long country roads on Wednesday morning, Cooper passed the charred devastation of the Neola North Fire — blackened ground, gray ash and burned-out trees. He passed through several checkpoints, stopping to take a picture of a Utah National Guardsman, who smiled and saluted for his camera. Firefighters in trucks passed him, headed to the blaze.
Cooper suddenly slammed on his brakes. Excitedly, he jumped out to pet his horse, "Rojan." When he climbed back into his truck and drove off, the horse followed dutifully behind.
Cooper pulled up to his home, a cabin with a breathtaking view of the canyon that he calls "my own piece of paradise here."
"The flowers are still blooming! I didn't think it was going to be this good!" he said as he walked up the gravel driveway.
Cooper looked around, taking it all in. A charred slope was off in the distance. His amazing view was spared, thanks to the efforts of firefighters.
"I didn't dare think it would be this good," he said, beaming.
The cemetery
Edson Gardner drove through the area, looking at homes that were lost and homes that were saved. A set of antlers marked the entrance to the rubble of one home.
He drove past torched fields, trees now blackened skeletons, burned-out cars and destroyed homes.
"I just can't understand how it does that," he said of the fire.
A dozen homes were destroyed, along with 24 outbuildings. No other homes are in imminent danger, fire officials said.
The wildfire moved quickly over the gravesites at the Reed Cemetery, scorching the red dirt mounds and burning the memorial flowers.
LaDee Christensen placed her hand over her mouth to stifle a cry when she saw the graves.
"Most of these people in here are relatives," she said. "I can't believe how it went over those graves. And the crosses and the statues of Jesus, they haven't been touched. I can't believe this devastation."
On her grandson's grave, Christensen pointed out a dream catcher that was spared from the fire.
"We just put my mother there a week ago," said her husband, Gerald.
"If they would have just stopped it over there when it was little, but there's just too much of this jurisdictional bugdust," he said, angry over how the fire became out of control so quickly.
Fire officials have claimed they have had great cooperation between federal, tribal and local agencies in battling the Neola North Fire. The Ute tribe has pledged to do more to increase the level of interaction when dealing with wildfires.
As he drove back to the wreckage of his family's home, Gardner encountered his friend Lynda Kozlowizz driving the opposite direction.
"They're giving out vouchers," she said to him, referring to food being handed out at a nearby shelter.
"Oh yeah?" he replied. "We're going to need it."
Gardner vows to rebuild.
"I made a promise to my mother that we would get something up back in there for her," he said.
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com