MEDICINE LODGE, Kan. — The towering fire approached Don Gerstner’s house last week with such fury that there was no time to pack. All he and his wife, Carol, could do was scurry to their Toyota pickup and speed past a row of flaming trees toward the relative safety of a nearby road.

When the couple returned, the sturdy old home where they had raised their children had been reduced to a pile of bricks and ashes. Amid the destruction were the ruins of a marble-top coffee table, walnut cabinetry and decades worth of pictures and mementos. Also lost was a beloved English pointer, whose kennel Mr. Gerstner had tried unsuccessfully to reach.

“I’m going to rebuild this house, just exactly like it was,” Mr. Gerstner, 87, a carpenter, said Saturday as he surveyed the destruction.