- Property owners returned to Beaver Mountain to view Cottonwood Fire devastation firsthand.
- Tracy Davis and others expressed grief over losing family cabins and memories.
- The fire destroyed 150 structures and burned 93,000 acres, with 4% containment.
BEAVER — For the first time since the Cottonwood Fire started burning a week ago on Beaver Mountain, property owners were allowed past the road closure Tuesday morning to see what remained of their homes and cabins.
Many already knew what they would find, but seeing the devastation in person was something they said they could never fully prepare for.
"I imagine it will all hit pretty solid once I get there," said Tracy Davis, a Beaver resident who has already heard about his family cabin. "My kids have told me it's gone."
Just before 9 a.m., vehicles lined up at the state Route 153 closure in Beaver.
Property owners were escorted into the burn area in groups by law enforcement. They were allowed to spend a couple of hours at their properties to take photos and to see what's left.
For Davis, the view of the mountain and his property was shocking.
"You know, it was moonscape, without a doubt. Moonscape everywhere. The ground was just smooth and pretty and not disturbed. It was just an ugly color," he said.
For him, the family cabin represented decades of work and family memories.
"Everything. We hunted and fished and did it all," he said. "My cabin, I built it from scratch. I did every drop of that with my own hands, and it's gone completely."
For Davis, the loss was about far more than a building. The cabin had been where he, his wife and their children spent summers together, and where later generations gathered to make memories.
"That's all my life," he said. "It was always a good spot. It was always ours. It was always a special place."
He knows he's not alone in feeling grief.
Another Beaver family, Dave and Lori Blackner, also returned to find the cabin they built gone.
The couple built what they called "Camp Kimberly" nearly 30 years ago in memory of their daughter after her death.
"She passed away from cancer, leukemia, 29 years ago. We already owned the land, but it was kind of our reprieve as soon as she passed away," said Lori Blackner.
Her husband, Dave Blackner, said the speed of the fire made the loss difficult to comprehend.
"You work a lot of years to build something, and (to) have it gone in a matter of a couple of hours is just hard to wrap your head around it," he said.
During a community meeting Monday night in Beaver, fire managers said 150 structures had been destroyed, including homes, cabins, condominiums, RVs and outbuildings. Officials cautioned that the number could increase as damage assessments continue.
As of Tuesday, the Cottonwood Fire had burned approximately 93,000 acres and was 4% contained.
For Davis, though, the fire isn't his biggest concern right now.
"I'm not mad. I'm not. I'm crushed a bit. I think my wife being sick right now has spared me a lot of grief for that because my grief is in another area," he said.
He said his wife is dying, and he had planned to spend time at the cabin as a place to grieve.
"We'll probably lose her really shortly. I was planning on going up there and doing my own grieving in my own personal space up there, and now there's nothing left," Davis said. "But I have the accomplishment of knowing that it was."
