Jim “Jimbo” Rooks and his wife, Ruth, were still in their pajamas when someone began pounding on the front door of their Jackson home.
“Sudden, super loud knocking,” Rooks recalled.
At the door was Jackson Police Officer Liam Fowler.
The officer was driving by the Flat Creek Drive home Thursday when he noticed smoke, which isn't entirely unusual this time of year, when fireplaces and wood stoves are firing up around Jackson.
Fowler could tell, “something was off," said Rooks.
Inside, everything seemed normal.
“There was no smoke in the home,” Rooks said. “At that point, we had no idea that there was any fire going on at all.”
Outside, the fire was burning and beginning to spread.
Fowler notified Teton County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch, rushed to the house and immediately evacuated everyone.
‘There Was No Time’
The Rookses scrambled to get outside, along with Luna, their 7-year-old brown Labrador retriever.
“As soon as we got out on our front deck and looked over and saw the status of the fire at that point, it was almost like an explosion,” he said.
Flames were racing up the deck and side of the home.
“I was literally sitting in the middle of Flat Creek Drive in my underwear,” Rooks said. "There was no time to even grab any clothing."
Fowler found blankets for Jimbo and Ruth and put them in the back of his police cruiser.
Then, after getting the occupants out, the policeman turned his attention back to the fire.
Jackson Hole Fire/EMS Deputy Chief Brian Coe said Fowler reported the fire to dispatch at 9:10 a.m. and tried to fight it with an extinguisher.
Additional Jackson police officers began arriving about two minutes later.
The first fire engine arrived five minutes after Fowler's initial report.
By then, Coe said, the flames were climbing to the attic.
Five Minutes
Firefighters used an aerial ladder truck to ventilate the roof, helping slow the fire's spread through the attic.
Crews then shifted into salvage operations, trying to protect as much of the family's property as they could from the fire, smoke and water.
Twenty-five Jackson Hole Fire/EMS personnel responded, including three command staff and a medical director. The response included three engines, an aerial ladder truck, two ambulances and a drone.
Nobody was injured.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Coe credited the outcome in part to what happened before the first engine ever reached Flat Creek Drive.
“It was a lot of really great, quick actions done by the officer first on scene that ultimately ended up with a good scenario — or best-case scenario — of no injuries for either civilians, firefighters or other responders,” Coe said.
Half the house is "completely torched," said Rooks, "and even if we would've delayed the process by five minutes, it could be that the entire home would have been engulfed and maybe neighbors’ homes."
“I can’t tell you what would happen if he hadn’t responded when he did, doing what he did,” Rooks said. “But I can tell you it would have been a heck of a lot worse than what happened.”
‘Just Doing His Job’
From the back of Fowler's police cruiser, Rooks could hear radio traffic as dispatchers, police officers, sheriff's deputies and firefighters coordinated around his burning home.
It was "one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed," he said.
It was "a group of super dedicated people working together and communicating."
Later, he tried to find every responder he could and shake their hand.
Fowler was "so humble," Rooks said. "We’re joking that he got more hugs yesterday than I think he’s used to from all our friends and family."
They persuaded Fowler to pose for a few photos.
“You could tell he was just one of those incredible people that wants no recognition and, you know, 'just doing his job,' as he would say. But the rest of us know that these people are heroes, and we really appreciate them," Rooks said.
Labor Of Love
The family got out safely, but parts of the house were destroyed. Other areas suffered extensive smoke and water damage.
“It’s really bad,” Rooks said. “It shows what started out as a smaller fire, what it can do in just a matter of minutes.”
“It’s kind of a war zone in there,” Rooks said. “There is no part of the home that’s left unscathed, and some of it’s completely destroyed. Other parts are just severely damaged.”
Rooks expects his family could be displaced for a year or longer.
The roughly 21-year-old house was a “labor of love and a dream come true,” Rooks said, particularly for a teacher trying to become a homeowner in Jackson.
“It took everything we had,” he said.
They built it from the ground up.
Friends, relatives and contractors helped. Rooks remembers pouring 30 yards of concrete with a couple of friends when the temperature was 20 below zero.
“It is blood, sweat and tears,” he said.
The family moved in around 2005.
“For anybody around here, to own a home here, if you’re lower middle class, it’s not just a home,” Rooks said. “That home means a lot to us.”
Rooks is a former Jackson Town Council member whose family has deep roots in Wyoming.
Rosie And Azul
Despite what happened to the house, every living thing inside somehow survived.
The dog made it outside with Jimbo and Ruth — but two tropical fish were left inside.
They belong to the Rooks' daughter, a sophomore at the University of Utah, and were still in her bedroom while firefighters battled the blaze.
After the fire was extinguished and Rooks was eventually allowed limited access to the house, he went to check on them.
Their tank was covered in black soot.
“I pulled up the lid,” he said, and Rosie and Azul were still swimming around.
“I cannot believe they survived,” Rooks said.
When he told responders there were pets still inside, they escorted him into the damaged home so he could retrieve them.
“We’re happy that all living things made it out of there," he said.
Jackson Shows Up
After the fire, family and friends arrived. Neighbors came. People offered food, clothes, pet care and places to stay. Friends went shopping for the family.
Two teenagers saw people moving belongings from the property and simply stopped to help.
At one point, a stranger Rooks described only as a “big giant dude” approached him and gave him a hug.
“I have no idea who he is,” Rooks said.
By the end of the day, Rooks estimated he had interacted with hundreds of people.
Dear friends offered the family a nearby home where they could stay.
“There’s a lot of debate about what kind of community this has become in the modern time,” Rooks said. “I hear amongst my friendship circles and groups that there’s no community left in Jackson, and that somehow the community has died here.”
“Believe you me, we have our challenges,” he said. “But this is an incredible community of people. I don’t care what anyone says.”
He plans to write a letter thanking the community because a social media post or a few text messages couldn't possibly encompass what his family experienced.
“It’s just unbelievable and it’s extraordinary,” Rooks said. “We’ll spend the rest of our lives thanking this community, and giving and serving back to this community that’s helped us so much.”
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
