House fire nearly destroys rural Latah County home

Dec. 16--A house fire almost completely destroyed a home early Tuesday in an unincorporated section of south Latah County that is not part of a city or rural fire protection district, the Latah County Sheriff's Office said.

The occupants of the residence, located on Cedar Ridge Road about 12 miles east of Kendrick and 15 miles east of Juliaetta, were able to escape without injury after smoke was detected. They reported it to authorities at about 3:30 a.m.

"It's disheartening for something like this to happen. We're in this business to be helping people," Juliaetta Fire Chief Mike McGee said. "There's no other help out there and it was too far for us to go."

The trip along winding Cedar Ridge Road would have taken the Juliaetta Volunteer Fire Department about a half-hour to traverse, McGee said. No hydrants are situated outside the two cities, and the department could only transport up to 750 gallons of water to the site.

"That's not nearly enough water to fight a house fire," McGee said.

These residents in outlying areas only receive fire response at the discretion of the city departments. They would be charged later for the service, as is authorized by the state.

The house was part of the area proposed for a rural fire district that would have included Kendrick, Juliaetta and adjacent unincorporated areas of Latah and Nez Perce counties, he said.

Voters rejected forming such as district in 2003 and 2005, the more recent plan being the one that would have put the same home within the eastern edge of the protection area.

The Potlatch River divides the counties but the total area of about 1,000 residents is considered a singular community -- especially for such service, McGee said.

He and Juliaetta City Councilor Nick Anderson are looking into a third ballot initiative to create a district but are still in the researching stage. The goal is to get a rural district proposal to area voters in 2017, he said.

In September, the Kendrick City Council heard Anderson propose bringing the idea to voters again and those elected officials were receptive, according to previous reports.

This is the only part of Latah County not within one of these districts and there is concern in both cities about fires starting in the unincorporated areas and jumping into the city limits of Kendrick or Juliaetta.

Putting water closer to the rural areas would be part of such a plan, and improving rural fire service would significantly reduce the cost of house fire insurance to those outside the two cities, McGee said.

The people who lived in the home on Cedar Ridge weren't identified by deputies but are said to be staying with neighbors who live about a mile away from the site of the blaze.

"To hear of this type of situation, right before Christmas, it's bad all the way around," he added.

Terri Harber can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to [email protected].

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