SHERIDAN COUNTY — Warren Tritschler knew he was supposed to evacuate his home in the Horseshoe Subdivision last week as the Elk Fire approached, but he couldn't leave everything behind.
“There was fire coming on three sides of us,” Tritschler said on Tuesday. “The heat was unbearable. The amount of embers was unbearable. It came through the grass very, very quickly.”
Tritschler stayed back to fight the fire as it came feet from his home.
“I did what everybody else would do, which is protect your own,” he said. “I thought we were going to lose everything we built for 30 years.”
A home he and his wife had dreamed of for years.
"I stayed here and sprayed down trees, sprayed down the house, kept lawn water going until the electricity went out, and then from there. Kept fighting with a weed sprayer on a four-wheeler," Tritschler said. "Wall of fire is all I can say. I continued to spray down here until I saw the explosion of one of the houses that lost their transformer, one of the houses that we lost."
But Tritschler wasn't alone during the fight. Many other homeowners stayed to protect their properties and volunteers were there to help.
"It was a little bit chaotic and crazy and big fire, so they started to move all the firefighters out. And there's a rancher named Steven Kelty, and he ran his fire rig down the road, down here, while that flame was coming in and just kept putting out fire, and I kept putting out fire here," he said. "Most of us have stayed here just to protect our property."
It's people like Kelty, who don't live in the Horseshoe Subdivision, but were still willing to go into the flames that drew Tritschler to want to give back.
Tritschler owns two gas stations, the Buckhorn Travel Plaza in Ranchester and Bucks Travel Shop in Sheridan. He knows just how much fuel these volunteer firefighters are burning through to drive miles to fight the fire and doesn't want them to have to pay for it anymore.
"We started a fuel fund at our gas stations to make sure the guys in blue jeans were actually getting fuel put in their vehicles because they're doing it all on good faith and helping their community," Tritschler said. "We've got enough coming in that anything that's left when this fire is over, it's going to the Sheridan County Volunteer Fire Department. It's going to Ranchester. It's going to Dayton. It's going to go back to the guys that have spent so much money in helping all of us."
Donations can be made at either gas station, or can be mailed to Three Bell LLC, P.O. Box 878, Ranchester, WY, 82839.
"They're truly the ones that have your best interest in mind. They're the ones that are working their tails off and leaving their families to come and help. So donate to your local volunteer fire department," Tritschler said.
Tritschler isn't alone is helping support volunteer firefighters. Patricia Caywood, owner of The Parkman Bar & Grill, has been gathering donations for over a week.
"I was just kind of overwhelmed at one time with so much going on at one time. I really tried my best to try to keep up with all of the community that came out and helped me create this vision," Caywood said. "That's what my intent was from the beginning is just to focus on all of the volunteer areas, the local ranchers, our local community. Because those are the blue collar people of the world that we actually live in."
Caywood said she is still willing to take donations, but donating directly to the local fire departments would be best now.
"I wanted everybody to know that the outreach that I've had from those individuals that we actually were able to help my community, my customers, our friends, our family, they are very grateful," Caywood said.
