Couple in their 80s pick up after home is destroyed by wildfire

Don and Carol Gerstner, both in their 80s, went back to their home of 50 years Thursday morning to find nothing but ashes.

Wednesday evening, Don tried to use a garden hose to spray the roof of his home and surrounding trees, grass and plants to protect it from the approaching wildfire.

But Marcia Lawrence, Don and Carol’s niece, said that when the tree branches and roof caught fire, the Gerstners had to leave.

Lawrence said Don and Carol put two of their dogs in the car and guided a horse alongside as they drove into the town of Medicine Lodge. One of their dogs was still missing Thursday evening.

Don, who worked as a carpenter, built the home himself and raised his three children with Carol on that farm.

Lawrence, who grew up in Medicine Lodge and now lives in Emporia, set up a fundraiser for the Gerstners on the crowdsourcing site GoFundMe. The page had garnered nearly $3,500 in donations as of 10:30 p.m. Thursday – eight hours after being set up.

“As kids, we all grew up fighting fires with gunny sacks and buckets of water,” Lawrence said. “That’s what you did as a country kid growing up in Medicine Lodge, so we all have a real healthy respect for fire.”

Lawrence said she and her cousins would use the water-soaked burlap sacks to beat the fire on their land.

“Here we are, little kids, lugging big buckets and fighting the fires,” she said.

‘It’s just freaky’

Don Gerstner was hosing his property so the fire would skip around his home or veer away when it approached.

But when the embers started falling on the property Wednesday, Lawrence said the Gerstners described the trees and roof as exploding into flames.

When Don and Carol went back to the home Thursday morning, Lawrence said, everything was gone.

“There’s nothing. There’s absolutely nothing,” she said.

“But my Aunt Carol’s daylilies are still there. It’s just freaky.”

She said the couple are doing all right but are both in shock. She said at one point Don said he wants to rebuild the house in the exact same spot.

“They’re both really stubborn, independent people,” she said. “They’re both very much in shock.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Couple in their 80s pick up after home is destroyed by wildfire."