Residents Of Homes Saved In Wildfire Want To Find ‘Mystery Man’
Jul 27, 2018, 10:10 PM | Updated: 11:17 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – The burn scars are still there as a reminder of the close call.
“The fire burn is literally to within 10, 12 feet of our home,” said Dustin Holt. “It moved incredibly fast.”
Holt is one of several neighbors in the Columbus Court area of Salt Lake City still talking about the fast moving wildfire that threatened dozens of homes July 24.
“There was extreme worry, yeah,” said Holt.
Justin Peterson, 
who also lives in the area, was having a barbeque when they started noticing smoke a few houses down the road.
who also lives in the area, was having a barbeque when they started noticing smoke a few houses down the road.“Within five or ten seconds, the smoke had turned into raging fire. It was so quick. It was incredible,” said Peterson.
Right away, Peterson, Holt, and several other neighbors ran to grab water hoses and whatever else they could find to start fighting the fire.
“Everybody just started doing whatever they thought they needed to do,” said Peterson.
It worked.
No homes burned, thanks to neighbors helping neighbors and firefighters keeping flames away from homes.
The exact cause of the fire is still unknown, but there’s an even bigger question here neighbors would like an answer to.
“It’s still a mystery. We don’t know who he is. He helped out a ton and literally just vanished,” said Peterson.
Peterson has video of the mystery guy from a surveillance camera on his home.
You can see the guy helping with fire hoses.
Residents also remember him helping to fight the fire for the nearly three hours it took to put it out.
“Either he had a hose and was fighting the fire or was gathering hoses, extending hoses to make them longer, he was just johnny on the spot,” said Peterson.
“We don’t know where he is or where he came from,” said Holt.
No one in the neighborhood does because, it turns out, he doesn’t even live here.
“When it slowed down, he just walked out,” said Peterson.
Now, residents here would like him to come back.
They want to throw a barbeque for him as a way to say thank you.
“It means a lot that a stranger would stick around and help me protect my home, our homes, and our families,” said Holt.
“You help your neighbors and you help your friends, but this guy had no connection to us,” said Peterson. “It’s pretty amazing. That says a lot about his character. We really appreciate it. We want to say thank you the right way, you know?”
