Brush fires broke out in several Sacramento County locations Wednesday, June 21, the first day of summer and the hottest day of the year. The largest ignited at about 3:30 p.m. near Nimbus Dam and consumed at least 500 acres, leaping across Highway 50 and then Folsom Boulevard and racing toward Mormon Center, a 17-acre LDS Church and recreation facility nestled on top of a hill.

The fire burned itself out, amazingly, just as flames licked at one of two mobile homes near the Church. Electricity poles had already burned to the ground, knocking out Mormon Center's power and rendering the water pump inoperative. Toward the end, there wasn't water for firefighters' hoses. Firefighters from eight districts were called on to battle the blaze."The Lord put His hand between us and the fire. That's the only explanation," said Verna Meyer, who with her husband, Larry, have called one of the trailers home for 11 years. The Meyers were building custodians before they retired, and now are security personnel for the center.

The second mobile home houses Stan and Peggy Stanley and four children, ages 6-13. The Stanleys are responsible for the grounds.

Stan Stanley was away when fire swept up their hill and roared through the camping area. It was 5:30 p.m. when he heard about it and returned.

Fifty youngsters from surrounding stakes were in the swimming pool when sirens screamed their first warning. From the crest of the hill, the youngsters watched the flames sweep closer. Then as billows of black smoke headed directly for the center, they were ordered back to the protection of the pool, and later were evacuated.

Sister Stanley removed files and irreplaceable photographs from her home and dropped them temporarily at the door of the Church. Several lifeguards offered to help, and in response to her request to retrieve only the most valuable items, one snatched up a copy of the Book of Mormon.

A local television news crew observed the action, was intrigued and prominently featured that information and a full-screen picture of the Book of Mormon in its newscast that evening.

It wasn't long before everybody was frightened. " `Frightened' is not a strong enough word,' explained Sister Meyer. "We were terrified."

Sister Stanley said, "I have always had an almost irrational fear of fire. A friend was killed in a fire, and my cousin's trailer went up years ago like a box of matches."

The wind had whipped up a wall of flames that darted across the Meyers' small lawn and, with each gust of wind, flames touched the trailer. There was nothing any of them could do.

"When you deal with the destructive force of the elements," Sister Stanley said, "there is a terrible feeling of helplessness."

Sister Stanley also ran to turn on sprinklers in the picnic area in an effort to save 34 new tables that had just been purchased. However, in the dense smoke she couldn't see the valves. Backtracking to the main box, she lined herself up and located the valves from memory. The sprinklers worked long enough to drench the picnic grounds and save the tables.

Firefighters had no real explanation for the fire stopping when it did. They credit the Stanleys' green lawn and the fact that Stanley had mowed and watered it only an hour or so before the fire reached the area. Still the Meyers and Stanleys are convinced there is another reason.

Sister Meyer spoke for all of them when she said, "The fire burned all those acres, but everything of value at Mormon Center was saved. I keep wondering: `What if we hadn't prayed on that particular morning?' "