LATAH COUNTY, Idaho – Crews are getting a handle on the Gwen Fire near Juliaetta which burned 45 square miles of the area. Despite immediate evacuations during the fire, some people in the town of Myrtle decided to stay behind and protect their community the best they could.
The Gwen Fire got within inches of many homes in the area, but some people knew if they left, they wouldn’t have a home or a community to come back to.
“If everybody that stayed here had left, I would say Myrtle would pretty much be devastated. No doubt about it,” said Russel Ehlinger, who has lived in Myrtle since 2013.
Ehlinger was one of several who ignored the urgent calls to evacuate Myrtle. Instead, he decided to fight back.
He said his neighbor had a tanker truck with 750 gallons of water to spare.
“We sprayed until we ran out of water,” Ehlinger said. “750 gallons of water doesn’t go as far as you think when you’re hosing down flames.”
Alongside Ehlinger was Scott Roughin who came to evacuate his wife’s cousin.
“I came in a tank top and shorts,” Roughin said. “I wasn’t going to fight the fire, I was here to evacuate.”
Once the fire jumped the Clearwater River, duty called and Roughin jumped in to help where he could.
“It was just apocolypse after that. It was insane,” Roughin said.
After the water ran out, Roughin loaded his family into his vehicle ang got them to safety.
“There were rocks all over the road and fire on both sides and you just had to keep going,” he said when describing the nerve-wracking drive along Highway 12.
Air support on the fire also dropped a few buckets on the flames. For the most part though, it was Myrtle against the elements.
The community lost one of the 22 homes but their efforts prevents the rest from a similar fate.
“Everybody knows each other,” Ehlinger said. “It’s a nice tight knit little community. Everybody that stayed really pulled their oar to keep this fire from becoming a really devastating situation for everybody.”
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