CROUCH, Idaho — A tragedy in the small mountain community of Crouch — a 15 year boy died from injuries suffered in a house fire Sunday night and now many questions remain.
This is all that's left after a devastating fire turned this mobile home in Crouch into a pile of rubble. One teenager is dead, and neighbors are still shaken up.
"When I came down the driveway, I saw a big fireball," said neighbor Don Sutton. Sutton lives just up the hill and says he was about to go to bed Sunday night when a neighbor started pounding on his door.
"I didn't know what was going on, he pounded real loud and I ran out and he started to run down the hill already and he yells 'Tell your neighbor the place is on fire.'"
Boise County Sheriff Scott Turner, who was on the scene throughout the night, tells us a 15-year-old boy was the only person inside and could not get out of the house in time. The boy lived with his grandmother who was working at the time of the accident.
Turner also said because of the heat from the fire, it forced a release valve on the propane tank and caused what Sutton referred to as the "big fireball."
I spoke with a couple of members of the Garden Valley Fire Protection District who said two engines initially responded shortly after 10 p.m. with later fire assistance from Lowman and Horseshoe Bend. The home was near the Terrace Lakes Resort.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation by the Boise County Sheriff's Office and the Idaho State Fire Marshall's Office.
