ROUNDUP — A fire broke out west of Roundup on Saturday and destroyed one home, as well as almost 400 acres of land.
Over 20 of those acres were owned by a man named Dan, who wished to keep his last name anonymous.
Dan bought 40 acres of land west of roundup in 1998, since then he has put a house on the land and walks parts of it every day.
Dan’s house was not caught in the blaze but having over half of his land burn devastated him.
“When all you’ve ever worked for is in your land, you live for your land, that's all you’ve got. It means the world to me and everybody else out here,” said Dan.
On Saturday afternoon when the blaze first broke out Dan said he got to work immediately to help protect his property.
“That first night I was up here by myself. I ran probably 300 to 400 feet of garden hose you know, what little help it did I still managed to get above the ridge and about 40 feet down the hill, just getting the hillside wet,” said Dan.
Firefighters and air support also helped douse the land near Dan's home, in a successful attempt to keep the flames away.
“These guys are top notch, these firefighters. I’ve never seen a group any better,” said Dan while praising the firefighters.
As for how you move on after this, Dan says there's only one thing you can do: “human instinct is to get up in the morning, put one foot in front of the other and do the best you can. It’s all about not what one man or woman can do but what the community can do together to get through this.”
Dan says there is a lot of forestry work and rehabilitation he needs to do on his property in the future.
