Blanchard thankful after harrowing week
After high winds spun a fire out of control outside Blanchard, crews attacked the blaze from both the air and the ground Monday. The 740-acre fire forced many in the area to evacuate. (Photo courtesy of Kristine Logue)
Sometimes all you can do is smile. (From left) Bill Anundson, Ron Horn and Nick Cameron — Anundson's soon-to-be son-in-law — share a laugh Thursday night over how clean the Blanchard fire left them. "They basically were watching each other's backs the whole time," Kristina Logue said, "stopped for a cold one and laughed about how dirty they were." Despite losing his home in the fire, Anundson kept his spirits up while he helped support the community, locals say. (Photo by Bunny Horn)
Fire crews gear up Monday morning before their first approach to the Blanchard fire. After reaching 740 acres and destroying four homes, crews successfully extinguished the fire Friday afternoon. (Photo by Bunny Horn)
The Anundson family lived in a mobile home while they built their dream house. The Hunter 2 Fire that consumed 740 acres burned their work — along with their personal belongings — to the ground, leaving only the remains of this swingset. (Photo by Bill Anundson)
Kristine Logue’s view of her community is clear, even if her viewpoint from the Conoco in Blanchard is hazy, thanks to a bloom of smoke.
“This is a really tight-knit community,” Logue said. “So when somebody’s known around here, everyone asks, ‘Hey what’s going on with so-and-so?’ We know to ask about our neighbors.’”
That local communication became critical on Monday after high winds threw the tiny Bonner County town into jeopardy under the looming shadow of a 740-acre fire that caused power outages, forced evacuations and brought out the best of the people who call Blanchard home.
“There were an awful lot of people ready to help,” Logue said. “(Neighbors) brought out their own equipment and (dug) lines around the fire. They saved Heather Scott’s home. They saved a lot of houses. It was really quick-acting on the part of the community.”
More than 80 fire personnel were still on the scene Friday morning, putting out hot spots as they emerge while fighting the last of the fire, which is now 75 percent contained. But Logue said Blanchard residents are taking turns keeping an eye out for flare-ups as well because looking out for one another in the community of a few hundred is in its DNA.
“Today,” Logue said with relieved optimism in her voice, “everybody seems to be doing better. Everybody seems to be doing really good and pulling things together.”
Blanchard was already pulling things together on Monday after high winds fanned the small Hunter 2 Fire, according to Josh Johnson, a local machinist who also serves as president of the Blanchard Community Center.
“Our (senior meal) programs were already partially shut down because of the COVID deal,” Johnson said. “So it turned out we had plenty of food handy. So we came in and just started cooking for the firefighters.”
Those firefighters first arrived early Monday at Logue’s Conoco parking lot, where they assembled and began formulating strategies to fight the fire that would later drive most Blanchard residents out of their homes.
“We had guys come over from West Ponderay, Priest River, Timberlake up in Athol, Spirit Lake, the Forest Service, IDL, Northern Lakes — there was a lot. You’d be surprised at how many showed up from all over to help us. I was shocked how everyone came over for us.”
Not long after firefighters started tackling the blaze, however, the fire severed power to the town.
“That was a huge problem,” Logue said.
Despite the breakdown in communication, trucks started lining up before noon near Highway 41, empty trailers in tow, ready to take horses and livestock to safety. By then, the push to evacuate was in full swing, both in Blanchard and in the neighboring Stoneridge Resort.
“It happened all so quickly,” said Cindy Thomas, resort manager at Stoneridge. “There were so many agencies working to our benefit, and you’re really not aware of how many people are on the scene.”
Thomas said she didn’t need evacuation orders to start alerting guests at the resort and residents in the Stoneridge neighborhood.
“I looked out from our balcony at the hillside and saw the flames. I thought, ‘The water tower we use to supply Stoneridge is on that hill.’ So we went room-to-room," she said.
Bonner County Sheriff’s deputies knocked on doors throughout the 150 timeshare condos and the Stoneridge community’s 390 lots.
“Through this whole thing,” Thomas said, “I’d never seen so many sheriff’s deputies,” the Sagle resident said.
Logue said many evacuated Monday, though some families chose to stay and protect their homes. Either way, the Blanchard local said the town was eager to help people find safety or choose to fight the blaze. The Idaho Department of Lands confirmed Thursday night that a total of four homes were lost. Residents are organizing fundraisers to help those who lost everything. Despite the destruction, locals feel fortunate no one was killed.
“It’s sort of surreal, you know?” Johnson reflected. “It had been a really windy day. It just felt like it was going to be bad, because of the wind. From the news that was coming in, the fire was spreading pretty quickly. … It went between all the big neighborhoods, up an empty field and into another forest. It could’ve been a lot worse, but at the same time, it was amazing how quickly people came together.”
Johnson, Logue and Thomas all noted how the community’s efforts — valiant as they were — paled in comparison to those of the firefighters who came to protect Blanchard.
“The quick actions of the (firefighters), along with the interagency response of the Department of Lands, the Forest Service, 911 operators, sheriff’s deputies and other unnamed heroes made a huge difference,” Thomas said.
“Things are definitely better now,” Logue said from the Conoco, just two hours before crews extinguished the last of the fire. “Everybody’s unwinding. Everybody’s starting to relax again. Now, though, so many people are coming in to see how they can offer support. We had someone come in and dropped off some meat. A lot of folks are asking how they can help say thanks to the people who saved our little town.”
