STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Marie Gallo was awakening from a nap Saturday afternoon when a friend who lived in Deer Creek called her.

“Are you EVACUATING?” the friend screamed into the phone, putting the emphasis on evacuating.

“Whaaa?” Gallo responded groggily.

Firefighters have been camping out at Wood River Middle School.

As she began to awake, Gallo learned that her Indian Creek neighborhood and several others were being threatened by a fire that had originated in Ohio Gulch and was racing every which way: Up the south slope of Ohio Gulch into Indian Creek. Down a canyon towards the Valley Club. Up a slope above the Heatherlands to the top of a ridge overlooking East Fork.

The next couple hours were a blur as Gallo and her neighbor turned on their lawn sprinklers and ran next door to do the same for a neighbor who was out of town. Their work came to an abrupt end as a police car drove slowly through the neighborhood, the officer using a megaphone to tell residents they needed to evacuate.

Gallo grabbed her passport and drove to a friend’s home in the Sunbeam neighborhood of Hailey.

“It was surreal,” she said. “One moment the smoke was pitch black; the next moment it was grey.

A helicopter carried a bucket of water as a pyrocumulus cloud billowed above Ohio Gulch.

“It’s difficult to describe the emotions of leaving your home behind,” she added. “A home is so much more than a building—it holds our memories, our family treasures and the life we have built. You have a connection with your home—it’s your safe place. And the uncertainty while you’re away is overwhelming.”

Over the next couple days Gallo kept watch on her neighborhood through pictures texted by neighbors who had stayed in their home.

And on Monday night she and her neighbors were allowed to return at 9 p.m. The line of cars stretched down Indian Creek Road as a police officer stopped each, welcoming them home.

“I’m home” she texted a friend at 9:36 p.m., adding an emoji of praying hands and a house. “I know it’s late,” she added, “But you want to be in your own home.”

The Ohio Fire scorched 2,035 acres near Highway 75.

The lowering of the evacuation levels on Monday night was a relief to Paula Perry, who was worrying about where she would place Sun Valley Music Festival musicians slated to stay with hosts in the area affected by the fire should the evacuation continue.

And it came as a relief to Fran Jewell, who took in seven dogs of clients who were displaced, feeding each a different diet, feeding them water by buckets and getting up early so they could play for a few hours before it got hot.

On Tuesday morning Gallo went to work in her yard, watering potted plants and pulling weeds, trying to shake off the anxiety that had encompassed her the previous three days.

As she did crews went to work on what’s been dubbed as the Ohio Fire.

Flames steadily advanced through sagebrush before firefighters could get them under control.

Following a breakfast of eggs, bacon and hashbrowns, 109 firefighters, including the Logan Hot Shots and the Snake River Hot Shots, fanned out across the hills, walking past sagebrush that had been burnt to stubs, shoveling dirt on smoldering piles of dirt.

Many had been working 14-hour shifts, their personal fuel tanks replenished by meals of Salisbury steaks served up from a fire camp trailer parked in the parking lot of Wood River Middle School.

After a hectic Saturday night trying to tamp down flames that roared 12 feet in the air, they had managed to catch some sleep on Monday night in tents set up in the grass outside the school. A few woke up to scurry to the trailer when light rain began falling.

By evening crews had achieved 100 percent containment of the fire, establishing a perimeter around the entire footprint of the fire. The fire is estimated to cover 2,035 acres. No structures have been damaged or lost.

On Tuesday 13 fire engines, two ambulances, two dozers and one excavator were assigned to the fire, hoping that Tuesday night’s winds wouldn’t cause a sparkup.

Dozers rehabbed some of the dozer lines they’d made to stop the fire in its track. And they built berms to prevent water and mud from rushing down the burned area in the event of a major rainstorm.

Some worked in the timber east of Indian Creek trying to keep the fire from taking off there. And others tended to Winn’s Compost where the material had to be spread out in 8-inch layers to release trapped heat, then doused with water.

Fire officials said the Type 3 incident team that has been manning the Ohio Fire may transition to a Type 4 crew today. The hope is that the fire can be controlled today, meaning it’s effectively out.

The fire was human caused, with firefighters dispatched around 1:41 p.m. Saturday, July 17, according to the Blaine County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the incident. The individuals who started the fire called 911 and admitted their involvement.

If the incident is considered an accident caused by something like target shooting it could be considered a misdemeanor, said Holly Carter, a spokesperson for the Blaine County Sheriff’s Department.

A misdemeanor typically carries a sentence of up to one year of jail and/or fines or restitution ranging from several hundred to a thousand dollars. It could involve community service.

Gallo still can’t believe how close her home and countless others came to being destroyed just hours after a hiking buddy had noted how grateful she was that they were enjoying blue skies with no smoke or fire nearby.

“Throughout those anxious days, one thought brought comfort: The extraordinary men and women standing between the wildfire and our community,” she said. “They battled relentless flames, long hours, rugged terrain, smoke and exhausting conditions with remarkable courage and determination. They fought to protect the homes and lives of people they had never met.”

Gallo said she was also impressed by the way in which the Blaine County Sheriff’s office carried out evacuations with compassion and calm. Their reassuring presence assured her that she and her neighbors were not facing the crisis alone.

“Behind every firefighter on the fire line were countless others whose work goes unseen—dispatchers coordinating resources, emergency managers making critical decision, pilots flying aerial support missions, heavy equipment operators building fire lines, paramedics standing by and volunteers providing food water and logical support,” she said.

“Every person played an essential role in protecting our community,” she added. “And thanks to their extraordinary efforts, Indian Creek Ranch was spared. Families were able to return home, embraced loved ones and begin returning to normal life. That gift is beyond measure.”

A SOFT CLOSURE STILL IN PLACE

Ohio Gulch Road, the Valley Club, and Indian Creek Road have been reduced from GO to SET status. Residents may return home but should remain prepared to evacuate if conditions change. If you feel you are in danger, do not wait for an evacuation order—self-evacuate.

• Indian Creek Road and the Heatherlands remain under a soft closure and are open to residents only.

• Ohio Gulch Road, the Blaine County Transfer Station, and the Valley Club are open to the public.

• Ohio Gulch and Indian Creek remain closed to public recreation while crews continue suppression and monitoring. This includes off-road vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrian traffic.

• The Hiawatha Zone, including the Hiawatha neighborhood and Red Devil Lane, remains in SET status.

• The East Fork–Triumph Zone, from the Triumph Mine east, also remains in SET status.

WATCH FOR FLASH FLOODING

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch this afternoon and evening for the Sawtooth/Stanley Basin area, particularly in the Wapiti Burn Scar. Rain rates of 0.3 inch in 15 minutes of 0.8 inch in one hour will likely lead to flash flooding or debris flows. Rock and mud slides could occur with a less amount of rain.