Wails pierced the air on Thursday morning as firefighters rushed to extinguish a fire burning through the home of a longtime Jackson family.
Jim Rooks, a fifth-generation Jacksonite, former town councilor and longtime educator, looked on in agony as the flames appeared to damage most of his two-story house on Flat Creek Drive. No injuries were reported.
Jackson Hole Fire / EMS responded to the blaze near the Teton County Fairgrounds just after 9 a.m. and contained it within the hour.
Flames initially reached around 50 feet, according to witnesses who arrived shortly after. “It went up fast,” said tow truck driver Nathan Johnston. “It was intense. I could feel the heat from just the road.”
The cause could not immediately be determined, first responders said.
Jackson police arrived first followed quickly by deputies of the Teton County Sheriff’s Office and dozens of firefighters who used a ladder and chainsaw to cut a hole in the roof. First responders blocked off the road and evacuated nearby homes. Firefighters continued to blast water onto the structure through 10 a.m. as the sun crested Snow King Mountain.
Friends and family members offered hugs and supplies to the homeowners, who declined to be interviewed. Rooks’ wife, Ruth Moran-Rooks, director of the nonprofit pARTners, is battling pancreatic cancer.
It was the neighborhood’s second major house fire in the past few years, neighbors said.
