Officer Spots Smoke, Clears House Before Blaze Spreads

Jackson Police Officer Liam Fowler drove past Jim and Ruth Rooks' home on Flat Creek Drive last Thursday when he noticed smoke coming from the structure. He stopped, contacted Teton County Sheriff's Office Dispatch and went to the door. Jim Rooks, a former Jackson Town Council member, said he and his wife were in pajamas when the officer knocked. Rooks said there was no smoke inside the house and the couple had no idea a fire had started.

Fowler, who is identified in the police report as the officer on the scene, evacuated the Rookses, their 7-year-old brown Labrador retriever Luna, and then turned to the fire. Jackson Hole Fire/EMS Deputy Chief Brian Coe said Fowler reported the fire to dispatch at 9:10 a.m. and attempted to fight it with an extinguisher. Additional Jackson police officers arrived about two minutes later. The first fire engine arrived five minutes after Fowler's initial report. By then, flames were climbing to the attic.

Firefighters used an aerial ladder truck to ventilate the roof, which slowed the fire's spread through the attic, and then shifted to salvage operations to protect the family's property. Twenty-five Jackson Hole Fire/EMS personnel responded, including three command staff and a medical director, along with three engines, an aerial ladder truck, two ambulances and a drone. Nobody was injured. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Rooks said that when he and his wife stepped onto the front deck and saw the fire, it was almost like an explosion. Flames were racing up the deck and side of the home. He said he was sitting in the middle of Flat Creek Drive in his underwear because there was no time to grab clothing. Fowler found blankets for the couple and put them in the back of his police cruiser. Coe credited the outcome to Fowler's quick response before the first engine reached the scene.

The roughly 21-year-old house was built from the ground up by the family, who moved in around 2005. Rooks poured 30 yards of concrete with friends when the temperature was 20 below zero. Half the house is completely torched, and the rest suffered extensive smoke and water damage. Rooks said he expects his family could be displaced for a year or longer. Two tropical fish, Rosie and Azul, were left inside the home in his daughter's bedroom, and they survived the fire.

After the fire, family, friends, neighbors and strangers offered food, clothes, pet care and places to stay. Two teenagers saw people moving belongings from the property and stopped to help. Rooks estimated he had interacted with hundreds of people by the end of the day. He said he plans to write a letter thanking the community for its response.