BOISE -- The smoke has cleared but stories of bravery and selflessness continue to surface despite the devastation the fire left behind. Wednesday's wildfire raced through the Eagle Foothills and many people were forced to make the decision of whether to flee or stay with their homes.
Brenna Hertux says she owes a lot to a man she just met Wednesday, while she and her family were evacuating. He is a complete stranger who appeared offering to help.
“It came like that,” said Hertux.
Hertux explains the terrifying moments after she and her family began to evacuate after the fire quickly surrounded her home.
“Everything disappeared in smoke,” she said.
Hertux's husband loaded their grandchildren and two of their horses in a trailer and left. Hertux was going to follow, but by time she turned around to leave the smoke was too thick to see her car. She returned back to the barn, and that's when she was surprised by a man crawling inside.
“This kid appears under my back door, under the overhead barn door crawling in saying, 'What do you need me to do? Let me help,’ said Hertux.
She says the young man introduced himself as Dakota, and together they hosed down trees and hoped for the best.
“He and I watched the flames come up to the edge and everything else was gone it was just all smoke,” said Hertux.
Hertux says she was overwhelmed by the young man's willingness to help someone he didn't know.
“It was really comforting to have somebody in there with me and he didn't have to put himself in danger and he did that for total strangers,” said Hertux.
In the aftermath of the fire, Hertux said she lost contact with the man who helped her.
“He is, I just don't know who he is, Dakota, we owe a lot to him,” said Hertux.
On Friday we were able to track down Dakota and reunite him with the Hertux.
“You don't know how much you being there with me in that almost inferno, you remember how hot and smoky it was in there? It was scary breathing it, but to know there was somebody else there with me it was a bit of reassurance, reassurance to me it's going to be OK, it's going to be OK, that we've done the right thing choosing to stay here,” Hertux said to Dakota.
“Second nature, it wasn't a second thought, I just kind of went for it,” said Dakota Essman.
“I hope there are a lot more kids out there like him. He's an example of what our youth should and could be. He offered up whatever he could to total strangers and put himself literally in the line of the fire to help us,” said Hertux.
Dakota says he will be going into the Marines this winter. He says he doesn't consider himself a hero and says anyone in his situation would have done the same.
