SALT LAKE CITY — Thirteen fires burned throughout Utah on Saturday.

One burned on from Thursday, and another from Friday. A third was quickly stopped in the early hours of the morning. The rest, though, burned throughout the day, with one growing so out of control that on Monday, it was only 10 percent contained.

I got in shortly before 8 a.m. I immediately began looking for updates on the Delta and Dump fires. I updated ksl.com to reflect new acreage and evacuation totals and began to write a story about an accident on Bangerter Highway. I also added dozens of photos of the Dump Fire that had been submitted to us via email and the iWitness feature in the ksl.com app.

At 11:38 a.m., we became aware of the first new fire of the day: a field fire in West Valley City near the Decker Lake Youth Center. It was the beginning of a 7-hour period during which 10 fires would break out throughout Utah:

12:49 p.m.: A fire breaks out in a field in Draper. The fire burned fences, but no structures. I decided to write a story in case the fire grew. I also worked on keeping the website up to date with other news. 1:55 p.m.: A reader sent pictures via iWitness of the Draper fire, so I decided to add them to my story and get it online. As I was clicking "submit," though, another picture came through the iWitness queue: one of a field fire in Murray near the Jordan River Trail. At that point, I decided to include the Decker Lake, Draper and Murray fires in one story, as well as a fire that had started in Ogden at 5 a.m. but had quickly been extinguished.

It was at this point that the fires began to stretch our resources, according to John Eulberg, on the assignment desk.

"It was just one fire after another," he said. "I was scrambling, calling in photographers. The scanners were lighting up like a Christmas tree."

3:21 p.m.: A two- alarm house fire started in West Jordan. It quickly escalated to a four-alarm fire.

"At that point, the helicopter became invaluable," Eulberg said. "There is no way we could have covered every fire, otherwise."

3:31 p.m.: Just 10 minutes later, a fire started in Sandy near the Alta Canyon Rec Center. Tanya Vea, KSL's executive vice president over TV and radio news, happened to be at the park with family and sent us video of the fire.

iWitness

Thanks to reader submissions ...

Thanks to reader submissions, ksl.com was able to gather more than 500 photos and multiple videos of the fires. KSL was also made aware of eight of the 13 fires Saturday via <a href="http://www.ksl.com/? nid=1072&sid=16292529" target=_blank>iWitness. </a>

4:31 p.m.: As I was working to update my story and put other news online, a fire broke out in Leeds, Washington County. Dozens of photos of the fire were sent to us, and I worked on adding the pictures, as well as two videos, to the fire story.4:59 p.m.: Pictures came through iWitness of a brush fire along I-15 near Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. Luckily, the fire did not grow and was quickly put out. I added it to my earlier story and hoped the night would quiet down — I was drastically behind with the stories I was supposed to be putting online.

5:09 p.m.: The night didn't quiet down. Pictures came through iWitness of a fire in Sanpete County. As the Dump Fire evacuees were able to make their way home and the fire in Leeds grew, I realized I just did not have time to keep the website up and running while continuing with fire updates. I called Dave Newlin, who heads up the Science and Innovation section of Page Two. He was able to come in for an hour and work on other stories, giving me a chance to catch up on fire updates. 5:38 p.m.: A reader sent us a picture of a fire in Tooele.

6:16 p.m.: A fire broke out in Bountiful. KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank sent video of the fire, which I added to the earlier story.

The rest of the night was consumed with late-breaking news — a TRAX accident with no injuries — and fire updates. I added hundreds of reader-submitted photos and multiple videos to the stories, and at 12:28 a.m., dragged myself out of the newsroom. I was grateful that the majority of the fires had been extinguished and hopeful that those truly affected by the fire — the residents displaced and the firefighters risking their lives — would soon be out of harm's way.

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