Despite the tragic loss of life and homes, this year's largest summer forest fire in Utah has strengthened bonds among Church members and renewed at least one family's faith in human selflessness.

"It has totally renewed our faith in mankind," said Millie Dahl, a member of the Midway 3rd Ward, Midway Utah Stake. "There is so much wickedness today that it seems to seep in even in strong LDS communities like this. But people have been so supportive. It is wonderful."Two LDS firefighters, Wasatch County Deputy Sheriff Blake V. Wright, 38, and Ralph M. Broadhead, 64, a Wasatch County road crew worker, were killed in the blaze in a mountainside resort area as they fought to build a firebreak.

Wright, the father of six children, was a member of the Heber 5th Ward. Broadhead, the father of five, was a member of the Heber 7th Ward. Both are in the Heber City Utah Stake.

Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Council of the Twelve spoke at the funeral services for both men at the Heber City Utah Stake Center on Aug. 30.

Sister Dahl and her husband, William, owners of a cabin home a half mile west of Midway in Wasatch County, were one of 18 families to lose their homes in the raging fire. About 80 summer cabins are in the area.

The Dahls, however, were the only full-time residents left homeless by the forest fire, which started Aug. 26 and burned through the area for three days. The fire started from smoldering embers left from a five-acre blaze caused by an unattended campfire three days earlier.

More than 680 firefighters contained the forest fire on Aug. 29, which burned 2,970 acres in the resort area, located adjacent to Wasatch Mountain State Park.

"Through it all, this has made us all more concerned for each other," said Pres. Wayne W. Probst of the Midway Utah Stake. "It's drawn us all together - there's no question about it."

During the town's Swiss Days celebration over the Labor Day weekend, people contributed more than $7,500 to the families of the two firefighters.

"That gives you an indication of the type of people we have in the community," Pres. Probst said.

Loyal Clark, public information officer with the Uinta National Forest, said, "The LDS Church was just wonderful and very supportive of the people who were evacuated. When people came down out of their homes, they were directed to meet at the stake center in Midway. The stake president and stake Relief Society president immediately set up homes for the people to be dispersed into. We were able to get everyone into homes that way."

The Dahls and their three daughters had only 10 minutes to evacuate their home before the blaze engulfed their cabin. They escaped with only a few boxes full of scrapbooks, photo albums and family heirlooms.

"I try not to dwell on the loss," Sister Dahl said. "The good outweighs the bad in a situation. It's a real eye opener to see how much good is left in the world."

Within about two hours, the family had half a room full of clothes, two freezers full of food and a place to stay with friends Cindy and Wayne Huffaker. The parents of the Huffakers, Junior and Karen Bingham of Morgan, Utah, arrived with a motorhome full of goods from members of the Church in Morgan.

"I could not believe that there were that many people who cared," Sister Dahl said. "You expect maybe your good friends to respond, but there were people I didn't even know who were handing us items."

For most people, the homes in the area are second residences, but most have still invested their time and money into the cabins.

"My husband is just devastated," said Jeri Gerber of the Willow Canyon 3rd Ward in the Sandy Utah East Stake, who owned a summer home in the area. "He built the log cabin with the help of our son. He packed every log on his back to build it. It took him three years and now it is gone."

Antiques that belonged to her grandmother and father were also lost, but Sister Gerber has much praise to give the firefighters in spite of everything.

"There are 80 cabins up there and it's just amazing they didn't lose all of them," she said.

More than 300 residents were evacuated when the wildfire raged through the mountainside subdivision.