“I just couldn’t believe it…..there was just nothing anybody could do. There was one man [William Smith] that had run out of the house, along with a neighbor who had been trying to help him, and they were just completely, you know, hysterical.”-Mark Conley, witness

In June of 2016, Erin Smith became not only Idaho National Guard’s first ever M1 tanker (MOS 19K), but the first ever female tanker in U.S. history!  One year later (30 JUN 2017) Master Sergeant Erin Smith, along with her daughter, and two other people, died in a house fire at the Tamarack Resort in Valley County, Idaho.

The resort ‘cabin’ was being used by three National Guard personnel;  James Harper the Third, Erin Smith and her husband William Smith.  James Harper brought his son and the Smith’s brought their daughter on pre-4th of July weekend vacation.

Investigators say the house was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, they suspect a propane (aka Tricarbane, a type of LNG) fueled fireplace is the origin of the blaze.  William Smith was the only one to survive.