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(Fremont County, WY) – On October 16, my wife called me to say that there was a fire across the Wind River.
By the time I got home a few minutes later, an amazing mobilization of firefighters, police, city employees and emergency responders was already in full force.
At that point, the fire was being battled on the other side of the river, but several emergency personnel were stationed in our area to monitor the fire and to be able to respond quickly if the fire somehow jumped the river.
I believe that there were about 100 responders, and want to mention that the vast majority are completely volunteer.
They spend countless hours in training in order to be able to respond in an emergency , and to help community members who they may not even know!
Positioning some fire personnel in our neighborhood was a wise decision, I presume made by Chief Blumenshine.
I thought there was no way the fire could jump the width of the river, but it did. Within minutes it consumed two vacant lots and severely threatened our home next to one of the lots. If it had not been for the immediate action and strong response to douse the fire with water, I believe we would have lost our home.
Cheryl and I want to express our deep gratitude and our admiration of everyone who was involved in fighting the fire on both sides of the river. We don’t even know everyone who was involved, but we are indebted to you and will do our best to “pay it forward”.
Thank you!
Chuck and Cheryl Rodgers