IDAHO CITY, Idaho — It’s been almost ten years since a devastating fire tore through the heart of the historic town of Idaho City on June 5, 2015. Today, the property is still empty, and the investigation into what caused the fire is still open.
Nancy Holbert may have been the first to see the fire from across Highway 21, where she and her husband owned the Sinclair gas station. “I was doing books upstairs because we closed at 11 p.m.," Holbert said. "So, it was about 2 a.m. when I saw smoke, and I looked outside and woke my husband up. I thought something was on fire by our gas pumps, a wooden fence, so he looked out and said 'Hand me the phone'.”
Nancy’s husband called dispatch, and that’s when the Idaho City Police Chief, and now Boise County Sheriff, Scott Turner, got the call.
I had worked all day patrol, was at home getting ready to go to bed late, and I received a call from dispatch about a structure fire," Turner said.
Turner quickly went back out and was greeted by the harsh reality that this was something big. “So, as I walked outside, I could see the glow.”
Idaho State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl remembers getting a call. “I remember waking up in the morning and flipping on the TV and seeing the news, and there was a comment made that the State Fire marshal will be investigating, and we hadn’t gotten a call yet, and just about the time that was said, my phone rang.”
Sandahl and his team spent all day going through the rubble and then discovered something. “We quickly identified some peculiarities of burn patterns which led us to the conclusion that the fire was arson."
Three days later, Sandahl brought in an electrical expert who agreed with his findings. But who and why?
Sandahl explains, “We did identify a person of interest that prompted us to get the assistance of the Idaho State Police to conduct interviews. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get any solid evidence that would connect him to the fire.”
Nancy Holbert told some of those workers who lost jobs have found work at other shops in town. As of now, the property owners have not rebuilt on the property but have just recently put a portion of it up for sale.
