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HERRIMAN — Dave Joseph of Herriman was puzzled Monday night, and heart-broken by the death of a good friend.
"We had a good, strong friendship," he said of himself and his 60-year-old friend James Martin. Martin was the lone fatality in the Wood Hollow Fire in Sanpete County last moth.
Joseph said Martin died nearly two weeks ago, on June 26, after he refused to evacuate Joseph's property.
"I've gone over a dozen scenarios, and I can't come up with one that I'm satisfied with. Why he would stay up there?" Joseph said.
I've gone over a dozen scenarios, and I can't come up with one that I'm satisfied with. Why he would stay up there?
–Dave Joseph, friend of fire victim
Martin was camping in a trailer on Joseph's property when the fire swept through the area. Police have not yet officially identified Martin as the lone victim of the Wood Hollow Fire, but Joseph said the authorities told him they are 99 percent certain, and officials have also contacted Martin's sister.
Joseph and Martin went to Granite High School together, but became even close friends in the last two decades. They'd known each other about 40 years.
"He was funny. He was witty," Joseph recalled.
The last time Joseph saw his friend, on June 23, the Wood Hollow Fire was growing.
"It was this big column of brownish-white smoke going up," he said.
The two were on Joseph's property, setting up Martin's trailer for the summer, hooking it up to the septic system.
Like many properties in the Elk Ridge Ranch subdivision, Joseph's property does not have a permanent home. So, Martin had planned to camp there until the snow arrived.
"He just wanted to get out of the city and enjoy the peace and quiet up there," Joseph said.
Later that day, the fire burned over the ridge, and Joseph returned to Salt Lake County. The next day, as the fire grew, Joseph said deputies told Martin to leave, but he refused.
"I don't understand that," Joseph said Monday, shaking his head.
On June 26, as the fire swept across Elk Ridge Ranch, Martin died in his car not far from his trailer.
"I don't have a good answer for why he wouldn't leave," Joseph said. "I know he didn't have a death wish. He loved life."
Joseph has been tormented by wildfires this summer. Fire chased him out of his Herriman neighborhood on June 30, not long after he learned about the puzzling death of his friend at his Sanpete County property.
"He probably kept hoping for the best, (that) it wouldn't come up there. He didn't want to lose all his stuff," Joseph said.
Martin is the only person to die in a Utah wildfire this year.
In all, the Wood Hollow Fire burned through 75 square miles of wooded mountain land and wiped out dozens of cabins and other structures. The fire wasn't fully contained until July 2.
