In late June, we had a HUGE fire in our area that burned over 1000 acres, 66 homes, and 29 structures. We were sitting in our house when our neighbor, Nick, who's 16, came over and asked Trevor about some smoke he could see over the mountain in the Mink Creek area. Trevor didn't think it looked like anything big and told Nick everything was fine. Not even five minutes later, we heard pounding on our door. It was Nick again, wondering if we should evacuate because the fire was now coming over the hill towards Gibson Jack(where we live). Trevor ran outside and the fire looked like a wave coming over the mountain, and it was coming fast. We had about five minutes to grab what we could (some pictures, clothes for the kids, and a few sentimental items) and then we got out of there. This picture below is what we saw as we were leaving the house. It was taken from our house, looking across the street.
I took a bunch of pictures as I was driving (safe...I know). The next two pictures are taken as I turned onto Stephanie road, which leads to Gibson Jack(the only way to get out of our area). I got very nervous when I saw this and wondered if we would even be able to get out.
Luckily it hadn't reached the road yet, but it was SO close. The first picture below shows the fire right in the backyard of our friends house, and also their horse pasture. Sadly, the horses didn't make it out, but our friends got out okay. Their house is in the second picture. The house barely made it but another on the property(where their grandfather lived) was burned completely. The shed you see below was also burned.
Once we got down the mountain I parked at the Juniper Hills country club and took some pictures looking up Gibson Jack. Everything to the left and right of the road below was burned, including some houses.
The smoke got so thick that we knew we had to get farther away, so the picture below is taken as I was crossing the tracks over by Indian Hills Elementary, looking back up the mountain. Everything engulfed in smoke.
This picture shows the whole mountain again from the highway before you cross the tracks leading to Indian Hills.
We had to evacuate and were not allowed in for three days. We thought for sure our house would burn, but somehow our street and just a few others made it. There were so many who were less fortunate and lost their homes, animals, and memories. But no one was hurt, and the community has pulled together to help those who lost their homes. Trevor and I are now going to do a fire evacuation plan so that we will be better prepared if anything like this happens again. It is the worst fire in Pocatello history, and you can see why.
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