IDAHO FALLS — A family escaped a burning home early Thursday morning thanks to quick-thinking neighbors and a delivery driver who woke them and helped pull them to safety before firefighters even arrived, according to the Idaho Falls Fire Department.
Crews were dispatched around 5:25 a.m. to a residential fire on East 25th Street, with reports of an engulfed garage and people possibly still trapped inside.
By the time Engine 4 arrived, smoke and flames were pouring from the garage — but neighbors and the delivery driver had already roused the sleeping family and gotten them out.
One neighbor helped a child escape from the burning home's basement.
With reports that a family member might still be inside, firefighters pushed into the home with a hose line, fighting the fire while simultaneously searching room by room. They soon confirmed that everyone had made it out safely.
As Engine 4 battled the blaze in the garage, Engine 6 arrived and tapped into a water supply, deploying a second hose line to attack flames that had already begun climbing into the attic. Engine 7 rolled up next, laying a third line to hit the fire from outside as it spread along the garage wall and into the attic space.
Once the flames were knocked down, fire crews shifted to overhaul and salvage work — digging through hot spots to make sure the fire was truly out while trying to protect what was left of the family's belongings.
Idaho Falls Power and Intermountain Gas crews secured utilities at the scene, and chaplains were called in to help the family navigate the sudden search for a new home.
No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.