I was one of the hundreds of people who attended the demolition derby at the fair Sunday evening, witnessing the horrible fire.

If it had not been for two of the other drivers in the derby, this tragedy would have been much more grave than what it is already. These two drivers were the first responders by using the fire extinguishers in their own vehicles to assist in putting out the fire. The firefighters on hand finished the job but were certainly not on top of their game. I have never attended an event of this nature where emergency services (fire, paramedics and ambulance) were not on hand during the event. If we have these services at rodeos, why in the world would they not be present where the possiblity of injury is just as certain? Three times prior, the firefighters had no sense of urgency or they had no idea of what to do. Now one of our community members is in a burn center in Salt Lake. I am new to this community and enjoy it very much but I believe that if my family needed assistance one of us might die before we recieved help.