'Couldn't really believe it was happening'

CASCADE, Idaho (CBS2) — There will be no more quick trips to the drug store on Main Street for folks in Cascade.

An early morning fire on Tuesday destroyed Watkins Pharmacy.

The loss of such an important business has been felt throughout the small community.

"It was shocking like you couldn't really believe that it was all happening and so you're just trying to process like what was going on, what were we going to do," Ben Watkins, the owner, told CBS2. "I just (remember) being like, what are we gonna do?"

The business has been a fixture in Cascade since the 1930s. Amber and Ben Watkins took it over in 2015.

"The sheriff called us around 2:45 this morning and told us they saw flames from our roof so of course we went down right away and Cascade Fire was already on scene and by that point, there was already a lot of smoke coming out of the roof of the building and it just kind of progressed from there," Amber said.

For now, the people who relied on the pharmacy will have to travel a lot farther to get their prescriptions.

"The nearest pharmacy is like 35, 30 miles away or so and so for a lot of our community members it's kind of a challenge for them to make that trip and so we feel it's gonna be a challenge," Ben said.

The Watkins don't know if they can rebuild. A lot will depend on insurance.

"We're working strenuously to try to get some resources going here in the interim."

The Idaho State Fire Marshal is investigating.

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