{gallery}07_20_10/garagefire{/gallery} Fire consumes a pickup inside a garage on Dick and Lois Asher's property on Shoshone Street. Tribune photo by Ilene OlsonCause of Shoshone Street blaze unknownA garage behind the home of Dick and Lois Asher on Shoshone Street was fully engulfed in flames at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday when neighbor John Wasden banged on their front door to warn them of the danger. Frightened by the late-night, insistent banging, Lois Asher said she hesitated to answer the door at first — then she saw the light from the flames behind the house and realized what was happening.

She opened the front door to hear Wasden's warning, “You've got to get out of there!” and the couple rushed out of their home and across the street.

By the time Powell volunteer firefighters got there a few minutes later, the fire had begun spreading to the back of the house and the roof, and smoke was roiling inside. Several explosions could be heard as the fire consumed the garage and everything in it, including a pickup truck.

Lois Asher credited Wasden for the fact that neither she nor her husband suffered any smoke inhalation or injury from the fire.

Wasden said he happened to be awake and was reading in the early-morning hours.

“I was in the living room, on the end of the house away from the Ashers' house,” he said.

“I had the back door open because it was a hot night, and I was hearing a funny noise. I thought someone was in the alley. I heard it again, then another pop. I thought I should investigate.

“I got to the kitchen and looked out, and the neighbor's garage was on fire. Flames were coming out on both ends — big time. I grabbed the phone and called 911. They kept me on the phone, and I finally said, ‘I need to go wake my neighbors up.'”

Wasden went to the Ashers' home, ringing the doorbell and pounding on the door.

“I rang and pounded more. I kept it up for what seemed like a minute or a minute and a half — it's hard to know how much time passes in a situation like that.”

Finally, Lois appeared at the door in her bedclothes, and she got her husband so the couple could get out of the home.

Wasden said he started worrying about his own house, as there's not a lot of space between the two houses.

“Ashers' house was already afire,” he said. “The heat was so intense, it had started the back of the house and the roof on fire.”

Flames from the garage were shooting high above the Ashers' house by the time firefighters arrived a few minutes later.

As the Ashers stood across the street watching firefighters battle the blaze, they were surrounded by neighbors who offered help, support and condolences.

Firefighters battled the blaze for four hours before the fire was out, returning to the station at 5:30 a.m. One truck and a crew of five firefighters from Cody assisted, Powell Fire Chief Joey Darrah said.

Firefighters were called back twice Sunday when the house began to smoke again. They spent about a half hour cooling hot spots each time, he said.

The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time. Damage is expected to exceed $125,000, Darrah said.

Darrah thanked neighbors for helping the Ashers and emergency medical technicians for their help at the scene.

Lois Asher said she had been working to update the home, room by room. A new couch and chair had been delivered Saturday, and she'd had the old couch put in the garage for the time being. It burned along with everything else in the garage.

After the main fire was doused and mop-up operations began, firefighters started bringing things out of the home to salvage them: smoke-covered picture frames and photo albums, a grandfather clock and other important or sentimental items. At the time, though, Lois Asher was most grateful for getting her eye glasses back.