The Fire

I missed my column last week because we were in the midst of dealing with the tragedy that hit us on Saturday, October 3rd. On that day I came home from Farmer’s Market in Greybull, stopped at the shop as usual to see if Rick was there and wanted a ride home. He wasn’t there so I came on up to the house, we ate lunch and stretched out to rest a bit. 

We were jolted to consciousness by our good friend and neighbor Kurt banging on our door, yelling that the shop was on fire and he wanted to make sure that Rick wasn’t in the shop. That was quite a shock. 

What we saw caused our hearts to drop. From the house we could see that the southwest corner of the shop was engulfed by flames. Amazingly almost as soon as our hearts dropped, we had a supernatural peace settle over us. It was like God was impressing on us that everything would be okay and He was in control. 

To make a long story short, the shop building was a total loss. There will be nothing left of the building by the time the cleanup is done. Now let’s look at the little miracles. A freezer full of meat that was still frozen solid on Sunday night. A neighbor with an empty freezer to keep it in until we can get another freezer. A nephew and family that are giving us another freezer. 

A reloading room full of gun powder, primers and even live rounds of ammunition survived intact and didn’t cause any chaos of its own. 

A part of the shop full of expensive, specialty tools that are not even scorched, even though it was in a hotter part of the fire. Tools that were dirty, wet, and even scorched looking that have cleaned up to be usable again. 

The old tractors in the big part of the shop that are smoke damaged but otherwise will be fine. I think there are about 6 of them back there. 

We have determined that fire is strange. An electric chainsaw that is melted right next to a tractor tire that shows no damage; an untouched cardboard box that was sitting next to a garden tractor that is melted down. 

The loss of the shop was big because there was 40 some years of business and collecting in that building. But we have so much to be thankful for. We are safe, a lot of the stuff is salvageable, but more importantly is the love, care and concern of the people we have served and loved. 

I know I won’t get every single person, but I am going to start at the beginning. The first person to approach us was Deputy Seth Hoblitt, his professional, and empathetic response was like a balm to our hearts. Deputy Justin Powell. The care he showed demonstrated to us that our Big Horn County Law enforcement personnel truly protect and serve. Thank you to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, the dispatchers, the officers and whomever else was involved. 

The Basin Volunteer Fire Department and Rural Fire district, the Greybull Volunteer Fire department and Rural Fire district and the Burlington Rural Fire District deserve our highest thanks and regards. It was a very long day for all of them. 

They all gave it everything they could and did an awesome job. I am not a firefighter, and was only looking from the outside, but Alex Olsen as Incident Commander (IC) seemed to me to be doing a wonderful job. He also showed a level of professionalism and care that the department has every right to be proud of. 

It wasn’t until later that I realized that Big Horn County SAR was also here bringing their skill and equipment to help. I can only say you all have our deepest thanks for all you did. The hours you put in and the skill you all showed was amazing and made us feel humbled and thankful for all of you. 

I am not sure quite where to put this, but Colter, thanks for the hug. It bolstered my spirit. 

We were approached by Alex as the IC asking if we knew anyone with an excavator that could be used to tear the front doors off and pull the ceiling down because they needed to open it up to get the fire that was above the ceiling extinguished. Our daughter Angie who was doing triple duty that night as an EMT with Cody Regional Ambulance and Basin volunteer firefighter called Tim and Robin Allen from Toolman Rental. They had an excavator here in less than half an hour. It was amazing to watch Tim work that machine to help get the fire controlled. 

There us no way I can point to every person that deserves our thanks, to everyone that has reached out, has given me a hug, has expressed their sorrow at our loss; we thank you. We now know for sure that we live in a wonderful community, one that cares. A community that will come together around its people and make sure they know they are loved. 

Thank you all. 

We would be amiss not to express our thanks here to our kids, Kevin, Marla, Ray, Doug and Angie, and to our good friend Dan for help in the clean-up. Toolman rental left the excavator here and Kevin has been a super-hero running that to get the remnants of the building down. Doug, Ray, Marla, Angie and Fay have put in countless hours already and will put in many more. We love you all more than you know. 

One more thing, and this is important to us. I said to many people the night of the fire and to many people since. “This is a big loss, but in light of eternity it is pretty small.” We mean that with all of our hearts. We serve a good God. What happened was not good, but in His plan, it is for our good in light of eternity. We don’t understand, we don’t know what He has for us to learn or why it happened, but we know He means it for our good and we know we can trust Him. 

Thank you all again, each and every one of you that has given me a hug, has laid a hand on my shoulder, has expressed concern. We feel your love and care and it lets us know we are in the right place.