Little respite from wildfires came to firefighters in Caribou County Thursday. While crews mopped up the blaze that started on the eastern edge of Soda Springs, another fire started in Grace at 1905 Turner Road around 2 p.m. The resident's trash incinerator ignited nearby grass which then spread around the residence and along the road. Bancroft, Grace and Caribou County fire departments all responded and extinguished the blaze before calculable damage occurred. After some close calls, no structures were destroyed in either Wednesday or Thursday’s fires.

    The Caribou County engine which responded, manned by Casey Batterton and Brad Hemmert, had to leave the mop-up on the Soda fire in order to help at the Grace fire. The two had just put out a hot spot near the Ken and Mary Finlayson residence on Kelly Park Road when they were summoned to Grace. As with most of the department's members in the area, both Hemmert and Batterton are volunteers.

Without volunteers Soda Springs would have been reporting homes burned to the ground from the fire on Wednesday.

    Caribou County Fire Chief Dennis Godfrey said the Soda fire — officially declared at 218 acres in size — was contained and that crews remained to mop-up and take care of flare-ups as of about 1 p.m.

    Shortly afterward, a flare-up occurred near the Odell Christman residence, sending up a visible plume of smoke. A Forest Service crew assisted the Batterton-Hemert team in dousing the fire which sprang up among stored equipment a hundred yards from the Christman residence.

     Godfrey and a BLM fire investigation team were scouring the area, looking for clues as to what might have gotten the fire started.

    Small flags placed by the team in the blackened landscape pinpointed areas of interest. Specialized equipment helped the three men look for the fire's origin.

    The Soda Springs fire quickly left the city limits and headed toward the top of Rabbit Hill, which is a major communications site for the county. Several radio repeaters and cell phone towers are on top of the hill. Godfrey credited the air attack in preventing the site from being overrun by the fire.

    Had the fire damaged the communications site, it would have seriously endangered suppression efforts.

    During the fire, the Jon Bunderson residence — about a mile from the towers — lost power. However the power apparently was not turned off at the repeater site.  With no power Bunderson's water pump stopped, as did his efforts to sprinkle the dry grass and sagebrush surrounding his home. Miraculously the flames blew to the northeast of Bunderson’s home, leaving him and his wife Cindy relieved.

    Of grave concern to the Soda Springs City administration was what the fire might do to the city’s water tower and water source, as both were in  the fire’s path.

    The area supplies a substantial part of Soda Springs with potable water. Director of City Services Alan Skinner said the fire burned right up to the city’s large water tank and came within 75 feet of a pump house.

    Skinner and Soda Springs Mayor Kirk L. Hansen watched the suppression efforts from the command post in Kelly Park Wednesday evening.

    Heat and hard work caught up to one Soda Springs fireman, who was transported by ambulance to the Soda Springs hospital for suspected heat exhaustion.

    "He's fine, was released last night, and returned to work today," said fellow firefighter Dan Squires.

    As firefighters continued with mop-up Thursday, they dealt with temperatures hovering around 90 degrees, making their work physically taxing due to the heat. No other injuries or illnesses have been reported.

    To help the firefighters, Wednesday evening, several Soda Springs residents, led by Greshen Clegg, banned together to gather food and water for the firefighters. The collection was setup at the pavilion in Kelly Park

    Sue Rice, who volunteered to help, reported that several of the area businesses donated food and beverages.

    "Lallatin's Food Town, (Jerry Nichols) said take what you need," said Rice.

    She said the firefighters were very thankful to get a hot meal and cold drinks after coming down off the fire.

    “After putting the need out on Facebook we got a lot of support, more than was needed actually," Rice said.

    According to Rice, 50 to 60 firefighters took the meals provided, as well as several of the families affected by the fires.

    “It's nice to live in a small town that cares about people," she said.

    Directly in the path of the fire was the Finlayson residence. Mary Finlayson said she noticed a strong odor of smoke in her home but assumed there was no danger.

    As the fire raced toward her home, the smoke became stronger, causing Finlayson to grab several valuables and flee her residence.

    As she left, police officers arrived to make sure she was evacuating.

    “It was a miracle!” Finlayson said. “It just went around, it changed directions and went up the hill.”

    Finlayson said she was very impressed with how fast the firefighters arrived to defend her home.

    She returned to her house around 10 p.m. to see what damage her house had suffered, but so far has only noticed a strong smell of smoke.

    “Ton’s of people have offered to help clean up,” she said.

    Being in the construction business, her husband Ken had several pieces of equipment around the residence which Mary credited the firefighters with saving.

    Two 50-ton water tankers from Soda Springs’ Monsanto facility raced to the fire to join the battle. Each tanker holds 12,000 gallons and is equipped to spray large amounts of water very quickly.

    Monsanto employee Jason Cunningham said the first truck went to the Finlayson residence. Without it, he said, the Finlayson house might not have been saved.

    A large stream of water could be seen above the tops of trees as the truck sprayed water at the flames. Despite the  huge volume of water onboard, the truck at the Finlayson home emptied its load and returned with another to continue the fight.

    The second truck went to the Christman residence where it resupplied smaller fire trucks. Besides sending the trucks, Monsanto’s firefighters and fire engine also joined the battle to save the Finlayson home.     Praising the surrounding towns and businesses who came to help — such as Grace, Montpelier and Monsanto — Cunningham said he thought it was really cool how people just stepped up.

    One fact became clear in the smoke, flames and imminent disaster in Soda Springs: There is no shortage of brave, capable volunteer citizens ready to do their part to save their neighbors.