Area fire, law enforcement agencies worked together to protect Dubois

The Grassy Ridge fire is now mostly under control and a large part of that is thanks to local fire departments helping out.

“I got a phone call from the BLM that just stated that the fire has now jumped the Kilgore A-2 road and that it has broken into two different fronts and that it was coming my way and I had about 30 minutes before it hit Dubois and I needed to get it evacuated,” said Clark County Sheriff Bart May.

May was keeping track of the Grassy Ridge Fire long before it threatened the town of on Dubois Saturday evening. He spent the days prior driving all around the surrounding area, putting out lightning-caused fires and protecting ranchers’ homes. It wasn’t long before the fire became a threat and the county knew they would need some help.

“Once the fire did jump lines on the north side across A-2 road, we put the call out and it’s just amazing the people who came out,” said Marty Owen, a Clark County volunteer firefighter. “I mean, we had firemen from all over, Idaho Falls, INL, West Jeff., Roberts, I mean it’s a really good feeling to see all those trucks show up. And you think, man, we’re going to lose everything here pretty quick and you look around you and think we’ve got some of the best guys in the country around here, and we did.”

May says his number one priority is protecting lives. Second is protecting property.

Once evacuation call was made, he asked the Jefferson and Fremont County sheriff’s departments for two officers each to help patrol the streets, keep looters away from peoples homes, and protect the town. Instead, of just four additional officers, the Tri County Sheriff’s Office sent 38.

Thankfully, the fire slowed down during the night, sparing the town. Out of the 600 or so people who live in Dubois, 15 chose to stay. However, after seeing their town OK, the sheriff says some people think it was just a false alarm.

“But instead, they come back and the fire is two and a half miles away. And I hear people are saying, “Well next time I’m not going to leave.,” May said. “Well, you know what? Next time, we might not be able to save you. So you know what? Leave; we will protect your property the best we possibly can and hopefully you get to come home like this one. This was a good outcome.”

The sheriff and local firefighters say all of the different departments working together is what helped save the town and homes around it.

“I don’t think we could have had a better outcome here,” May said. “I think that when you take a large group of people from BLM to Forest [Service] to local fire departments to fire departments all over the state and then you combine them with law enforcement and everything, to have the cooperation that we had on this fire I think was absolutely amazing. And I contribute that to the reason why we haven’t lost any structures and why we never lost any people.”

“It makes you realize what we have in this area, you know, that we do have support,” Owen said. “And hopefully, at some point in time we can return the favor to these guys ’cause they were sure there for us.”

Bureau of Land Management officials say the fire is now 97 percent contained and the number of acres burned has actually decreased. Originally, they thought that almost 104,000 acres burned, but they now say they were able to save about 4,000 acres internally in the burn area. Those areas will now be used as seed banks when replanting is done.