SPOKANE, Wash. — Rebecca Caron’s home on Greenwood Place stands as a stark contrast to the devastation surrounding it. Half of the houses on her street are gone — reduced to charred cars, melted garage doors, and scattered remnants of what once was. Yet her house remains relatively unscathed, a miracle she credits to one neighbor’s heroic intervention.
“There’s a lot of years that have built memories…things that we have collected throughout the years that have meaning…things we couldn’t replace…so it was really sad…really scary,” Caron said, reflecting on how close she came to losing everything.
The Caron family was not home when the fires swept through their neighborhood. As flames approached their property, Tim Aspenliter, a neighbor they didn’t know well before this weekend, noticed fire in their backyard. Without hesitation, he grabbed his 100-foot hose and extinguished the flames that threatened to consume their home.
“One of our neighbors actually stayed here…crazy but he did…he saw that our backyard was on fire he brought his 100 foot hose to our backyard and put that fire out for us…we were not here…we were gone…and if he had not done that our house would not be here,” Caron said.
Aspenliter downplays his actions, insisting he was simply doing what any neighbor would do in the same situation. He was already watering his own house when he realized he could help.
“I was actually watering my house and I went, ‘I got a hose here…I can reach it…so why not put it out?’ If I can save a house and possibly mine as well and maybe mine in the process…why not?” Aspenliter said.
For the Caron family, finding the right words to express their gratitude has proven difficult. They are starting with what they can offer: homemade banana bread made by Caron’s niece.
“Didn’t know him real well…we know him now…my niece is going to make him some banana bread…but there is really no way to show how grateful you are that they saved everything for you,” Caron said.
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