The coincidental timing is eerie. Just a year ago, the Ketchum area was recovering from the fearsome, 48,000-acre Castle Rock Fire. This week, the town is adjusting to the Main Street blaze that reduced a half block of buildings to blackened debris and ashes.
Despite the best, strenuous efforts of Ketchum's well-equipped firefighters, the unoccupied former Dirty Little Roddy's and Whiskey Jacques couldn't be saved. The buildings lacked modern fire sprinkler systems and were built with materials and standards from another day.
The adjoining Sawtooth Club's new firewall, installed during remodeling, is a tribute to higher building standards, which will be required when replacement structures go on the burned-out area.
The fire's impact will be felt throughout the community. Workers are out of jobs, if only temporarily. The city will lose local-option tax revenues. Habitués will be without their customary gathering spot. The city's avenue of historic buildings will have an ugly reminder of a painful event for months to come.
Yet, the community can handle the fire and its fallout. A town that could face the possibility of a wildfire spreading into residential areas, and didn't flinch, is fully able to deal with the Main Street blaze.
The lessons learned by fire investigators will lead to safer, more modern construction. New buildings, whatever their function, will be fresh additions to the town's business core.
In time, the disastrous fire will become part of the lore, as has the Castle Rock Fire, about a town that hangs tough.
