A little love goes a long way: Trailside Elementary students write thank you notes to Yellow Lake firefighters

A Trailside Elementary student shows a picture colored for the Yellow Lake Firefighters. Photo: Marina Knight // TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — Students at Trailside Elementary School wrote notes to thank the firefighters working on the Yellow Lake Fire this week during a sunny lunch recess. Local Utah crews are wrapping up work in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest on the largest wildfire in Utah this season, which reached a burn area of over 33,000 acres.

Sierra Hellstrom, public information officer for the Utah-based Type 3 management team, said the thank-you notes will be packed into firefighter’s lunches.

“I can’t tell you how many times the firefighters get so excited about a cute little sign, the adorable things that the kids write, and the big banners people have made. It’s that feeling of camaraderie that the community is behind us in here, helping on long days when you’re driving back in from a really hard day on the line. It really means something to us,” Hellstrom said.

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A note written to thank the Yellow Lake Firefighters. The firefighters will get them in their lunches out in the field. Photo: TownLift // Marina Knight

Since the start of the Yellow Lake Fire, many TownLift readers have reached out asking how they can help. Aside from thank-you notes for the firefighters, like the ones students at Trailside made, Hellstrom offered a couple of other ways to help.

“Your local volunteer fire departments are all here working alongside us from Summit, Wasatch, and Duchesne counties. So we always recommend you make monetary donations to your local volunteer fire departments for supplies and those kinds of things. They are here working, and they’ve been here, most of them, since the beginning,” Hellstrom said.

Trailside students gather around a table set up at recess to make thank-you notes. Photo: TownLift // Marina Knight

Hellstrom said the Wildland Firefighter Foundation is another organization worth supporting. The foundation helps injured firefighters and their families.

“If someone is injured, the fire pays for medical bills and all of those expenses, but there are other expenses attached to it, you know, if a family member needs to fly out here, or if they need to help with bills for a short time until things get settled. So, that’s always another way to help,” Hellstrom said.