Threat of Fire
In the summer of 2018, Camp LoMia shut down due to extreme dryness and drought. (The same thing happened the summer of 2002.) Fortunately, rains came towards the end of July. Mesa Maricopa Stake was the only stake who hadn't canceled their reservation and got to enjoy the camp during the last week of the Girls' Camp season. Also, because of those summer rains, families and wards, who had reservations, also got to use the camp until it closed for the year, October 31.
While every precaution is taken to protect the camp and its visitors, one cannot discount the spiritual protection of a property dedicated to the Lord—sacred ground.
Below is the story of
one such protection. It is written by Neil Taft and transcribed by his
wife, Sandy. They were the Camp LoMia caretakers from 1997-2016.
5-MILE FIRE AND CAMP LoMIA
Written by Neil Taft, Camp LoMIA caretaker
Wednesday, the 28th of August, the residents of Pine, especially those up Pine Creek Canyon Road (the road which Camp LoMIA is located at the extreme North end) were shaken by the prospect that the misery of fire that had devastated Eastern Arizona was potentially close to home.
Camp LoMIA was far enough away from the Rodeo Chedeski fire and the Pack Rat (which was over the Rim to the East about eight miles) that members and Church authorities over Camp LoMIA thought that it was out of harm’s way.
But concerns flared about noon. Above Strawberry, near the hairpin turn close to the milepost 272.2 a fire was spotted in a small canyon.
Shortly the Pine-Strawberry Fire Department began the initial attack on the fire, which was to be known as the “5-Mile Fire”. Within two hours crews from the Mormon Lake Hot Shots and the Zuni Hot Shots joined in.
The cause of the fire isn’t fully known. At first it was rumored that it was a cigarette thrown out of a window of a moving car. But as officials later gave out information, this was not the case. The fire started about 400 feet off the highway. Official speculation said that it might have been started by a piece of glass that was hit just right by the sun or maybe even a hiker.
As residents of Pine Strawberry saw billows of smoke coming over the Rim from Strawberry Canyons nearing the top (which would parallel Pine Creek Canyon), concerns deepened. Highway 98 from the LDS Church up toward Strawberry was closed. People up Pine Creek Canyon Road, where the caretaker of Camp LoMIA resides were told by patrolling deputies of the Sheriff’s Office to pack up and be ready to evacuate if and when they felt that the canyon and the Camp would be in danger. They were to listen for the Pine-Strawberry fire alarm system and then leave. Anxiety was racing in the minds of the residents with the thoughts of losing all that they own and what a tremendous loss it would be if Camp LoMIA was destroyed.
To keep the fire at bay, the Southwest Area Management Team attacked the fire from above. People of Pine watched as a helicopter would drop in at Bennett Pond and Cimarron Pines (subdivision in Pine Creek Canyon) and take off with 500 gallons in a huge bucket to drop at the flame head. More than 5,000 gallons in a huge bucket to drop at the flame head. More than 5,000 gallons were dropped. “That’s what saved Pine Creek Canyon before the rains came,” Pete Schaab, Deputy Air Operations Chief said.
The rains did indeed come, and it was a spiritual experience for the residents of Pine. The summer of 2002, in this part of the Rim country, was in a severe drought. Payson was far below their average rainfall. People in Pine hadn’t any moisture that they could even mention. Wells were going dry and some residents awoke many a morning with no water coming out of their faucets.
However, at around 5:00 of the evening of August 28th, as people were dealing with worries from this situation, they noticed clouds forming rapidly in the west. They continued to grow and become darker and darker. The sky then became an eerie dark yellowish color, reminiscent of tornado weather. The best way to describe the sky is that it looked like something right out of Cecil B. DeMills' THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
The rain and the hail came so hard and furious that the 5-Mile Fire was knocked down in minutes. Patrick McIlhinney (who lives at Rim’s Trail) was quoted in the papers that he witnessed an answer to a lot of prayers. “One minute we were watching the latest flare-up on the ridge closet to us,” he said, “the winds were driving those flames and it was an amazing sight. Within minutes Divine Providence interceded, and the heaviest, hardest, toad-drowning gully washer hit Rim Trail and the surrounding area. In twenty minutes we went from having this blaze blowing out of control, to almost an inch of rain on the rain gauge. The heart of this fire … had succumbed.”
Camp LoMIA and the surrounding area was no longer in danger. Within thirty minutes the Lord did away with any threat to His camp. The fire was immediately under control – 80% contained. The firefighters who were planning to sleep in the Pine Ward Church building never showed up. There was no need – they were needed elsewhere.
The next day the weather was dry as usual, with no moisture in sight. Pine had rains, and lots of it, at the exact time it was needed most. The people of Pine, even the most jaded ones, recognized the Lord’s hand that was felt on that rainy August evening. People are still talking about the miracle that diverted almost sure tragedy
NT/st
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