David Yuhas loaded his sons into his car, met up with a friend and headed out on Aug. 18 to the Jensen Memorial Youth Ranch for some fun.
About a quarter mile from the ranch property on Gray Road, Yuhas saw smoke. When he pulled up to the driveway, a man in the truck said there was a fire and he was calling 911.
He sped up the driveway and banged on Candy Grauberger’s door, waking her.
Yuhas, who works in law enforcement, said his first instincts were to “preserve life and property.”
At that point, it was a grass fire between an ancient stone and wood building, a Quonset hut, and the well house.
Yuhas and his friend left their kids in the car and began pushing the blaze away from the buildings. Yuhas got into a Kubota tractor and began creating a fire line.
“At the time, we really thought we could stop this,” he said.