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Gwen Fire burns through town of Myrtle, Idaho

The Gwen Fire has burned over 28,000 acres, and one neighbor in the community says the fire hit her property and narrowly missed her house.

MYRTLE, Idaho — We are continuing to track the Gwen Fire burning five miles east of Lapwai, Idaho, at just a little over 28,000 acres.

The fire is 85% contained as of Friday.

One neighbor who lives in Myrtle, Idaho, said the fire hit her property and narrowly missed burning up her home.

Kathy Rose moved to the community of Myrtle four years ago and has never experienced a loss left behind when the Gwen Fire burned in the community last month.

"I don't think it's completely sunk in, to be honest with you," Rose said. "It's going to take some time to totally realize what we've lost."

Rose lost five outbuildings and 81 birds on her farm, and some losses are hitting her finances harder than others.

"We have an enclosed trailer, and we have a brand new tractor that we haven't even finished paying for that burned to the ground," Rose said.

It's something Rose said she'll miss greatly.

"This is how we live our lives," Rose said. "We garden you know, it's how we have chosen to spend our retirement."

Despite what she's lost, she is grateful that fire crews arrived when they did and managed to stop the fire from getting further, just a few feet away from her house.

"Your pictures and scrapbooks and all that, I can't even imagine how people feel about that [and] lose their identity," Rose said.

Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 3 said they do not have an estimate as to how many properties were impacted from the fire yet.

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