NORTH OGDEN — Homeowners are offering praise and gratitude after firefighters worked to protect about a dozen or more homes that had the edges of their backyards scorched by flames.

Greg and Reesa Scherer opted to stay in their home overnight, resisting evacuation orders, and said at one point, the winds shifted.

“They started to blow east and blow south,” Greg Scherer said. “We were getting soot and embers on our house.”

It was around that same time that, at several houses down, Missy Birkholz and her family decided to flee for safety. “That fire just came rapidly heading towards all the homes,” Birkholz recalled. “I thought our home was gone… not a good feeling.” Firefighters had, however, prepared for the change. The Scherers say they seemingly followed weather forecasts, digging a

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