KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — As flames advanced on the wealthy vacation community of Sun Valley, real estate agent Todd Conklin sent his wife and children to safety, then offered spa treatments to some of the more than 1,600 firefighters and National Guardsmen arriving in town.
“They said, ’No, we don’t need that,’ ” Mr. Conklin said. “So we just started buying them dinners.”
Mr. Conklin’s offer is emblematic of how this town where Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Kerry, Demi Moore, Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Hanks have second homes has dealt with a 78-square-mile wildfire that broke out more than two weeks ago.
When the blaze threatened homes in this community where Ernest Hemingway lived (and committed suicide in 1961), some of the rich clambered aboard private jets and departed for clearer skies. Others packed up their artworks in trucks and horse trailers after more than 2,000 homes were evacuated. Insurance companies sent in private firefighting teams to Sun Valley and Ketchum, where homes are valued at a collective $6 billion, to prepare for the worst.
Meanwhile, masseuses and hairstylists descended on the fire camps at the foot of Bald Mountain, offering free massages and haircuts.
“Nobody will recognize me when I get home,” said Ben Mehaffy, a Nampa resident who arrived in Sun Valley with the Idaho Air National Guard, as a Ketchum hairstylist spruced up his buzz cut with clippers and mousse.
One reason for the good cheer is that no homes have been destroyed and the fire has been directed away from the community’s prized ski area. Yesterday, firefighters reported that they had contained the blaze. No injuries have been reported.
Founded by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1936 to lure the wealthy and their dollars out West, Ketchum has 3,000 full-time residents, plus hundreds of others who have second homes here and come for the skiing, trout fishing, hunting and hiking, as well as for the many art galleries, spas and boutiques.
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