In 1991 a downed power line on the bluff between Kilroy and Pine Cove ignited a fire which burned the last two cabins on the west end of the beach at Kilroy. Lou Crisler, who was a full-time resident of Kilroy at that time was able to extinguish a fire on the roof of a 3rd cabin. He used a makeshift fire pump that he and Doug had just finished building on a trailer pulled by his 4-wheeler. The fire then jumped the beach and the rest of the cabins, and burned 14,000 acres in the Green Monarchs across Kilroy Creek to the northeast.

 

In 2016, another downed power line started a fire in heavy brush behind Al Schmidt’s and Paul Shields’ cabins at Kilroy. Rich Pickens noticed the smoke and with the help of Jim & Bernie Miller, Rich & Barb Pickens, Rick Voss and Al Schmidt were able to get it under control. This time they had a pickup truck with a 250-gallon water tank, a pump and fire hose, which had been put together that summer through a joint effort of several Kilroy residents and Jim Miller. The Idaho Department of Lands was called at the outset of the fire, but it took 3 1/2 hours for them to arrive with firefighting equipment. Had there not been a “fire truck” ready, that fire could have been disastrous.

 

These two fires were the impetus for the founding of the KB & PC VFD.