The early-morning fire quickly devoured all that was in the house but left Tracy Hansen grateful her family made it out safely.
When Tracy Hansen, a financial analyst who works at Cassia Regional Hospital, realized she wouldn’t be able to come to work recently, she texted her boss. But she didn’t write much. The picture she included with the text—a photo of her house burning down—told the story. It was a story she was still having trouble accepting herself.
It had all started a few hours earlier when her husband awoke to the sound of an explosion. He’d plugged a rechargeable headlamp into an outlet in the closet and instead of shutting itself off when it was recharged, it exploded and started a fire, Tracy says.
It didn’t take them long to figure out the fire was spreading too fast for them to be able to put it out, so they woke up their 14-year-old daughter, Haedyn, and got everyone out of the house where they watched firefighters battle the blaze.
“For the first moments after we got out and even an hour afterward, we just kept thinking about how grateful we were to get out of the fire and that we were all safe,” Tracy says.
They watched as the fire destroyed all that was in the house. They didn’t have any time to search for things they wanted to save on the way out.
“It happened pretty quick,” she says.
It was only later they began to take a mental inventory of what had been lost. Among many other cherished things, she’d lost a hand-made quilt that had been made by her mother and another one her great-grandmother made. Her wedding ring was also gone. It seemed like everyone who came to the fire scene after the fire was out, including the fire inspector, sifted through ashes trying to find the ring, she says. Someone even came in with a metal detector to search for it. No one found any trace of it.
The team Tracy works with at Cassia Regional immediately got together some basics like blankets, socks, and even nail clippers and brought them to the family, she says. A friend took Tracy and her daughter shopping that afternoon for some basic clothes. But they were still in shock trying to come to grips with the aftermath.
When word got out at the small hospital, the Caregiver Engagement Council met. They said people at the hospital wanted to know how they could help.
Kevin Simmons, maintenance engineer, is on the council and has been Tracy’s friend for about 25 years.
“We did have the Venmo option so people could send donations straight to her Venmo account,” Kevin says. “Some people sent gift cards, clothing items, food items, or whatever they wanted to donate. We just kind of opened it up because they lost pretty much everything they had.”
Janalyn, an imaging scheduler who is also on the council, says because Cassia is a smaller hospital people get to know each other and they rally when a friend is in need.
“A lot of our kids go to school together,” Janalyn says. “A lot of us go to church together and we make friends at work as well. We take care of each other.”
Tracy says her family received financial donations from people she didn’t even know.
Katherine Hope is a pharmacist who is also on the council and says she’s one of Tracy’s neighbors, even though she lives about a mile and a half away from her.
“Out in the country that’s a neighbor,” she says.
She knew members of the church Tracy attends were helping but she wanted to reach out to people at the hospital too.
“I wanted to make sure she felt loved and knew that we appreciated her and all that she does,” she says. “We wanted to make sure we did something for her from our hospital family as well.”
Tracy is on the financial team that serves Cassia Regional Hospital, Bear River Valley Hospital, and Logan Regional Hospital, and she says her coworkers took work off her plate to free her up to deal with the fire’s aftermath and its many complications.
Tracy says two people at work who’d been through similar experiences talked with her and told her she had to just let herself grieve at the loss of the things that were burned in the fire.
“You eventually realize you really don’t have any other choice; you have to move on and rebuild,” she says.
The housing market is tight in Burley but there were people she knew who contacted them to say they owned rental properties that weren’t being used and that helped Tracy’s family find the small fully-furnished apartment they’re using now until they can rebuild. The house was a total loss because the inside was heavily damaged, but the cement walls are still standing, Tracy says.
“We spend a good part of our waking lives with the people we work with and they become a second family,” Tracy says. “I’m surrounded everyday by amazing, caring, compassionate people who showed me what it really means to care and serve.”
Katherine says there were several sizable donations and people were generous in their contributions.
“That says a lot for the character of the people here and also the character of Tracy because she’s just a wonderful, wonderful lady,” Katherine says.