Fire blazes residence
<p>Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District and Plains Volunteer Fire Department work to contain large flames at a house fire Thursday evening. The fire was reportedly caused by a faulty space heater.</p>
<p>Plains-Paradise Rural (yellow suit, left) and Plains City (tan suit, right) Volunteer firefighters work together to smother the flames March 8 at t a house fire on Montana highway 135 just outside of Paradise. Authorities deemed the structure a total loss.</p>
<p>In a burst of air from a collapsing internal floor, flames from the house fire at 1882 Montana highway 135 rise up into the air some 30 feet, catching the surrounding pine on fire. </p>
PLAINS/PARADISE - A two-story residence was consumed in flames and deemed a total loss by authorities Thursday, March 8 reportedly due to a faulty space heater wood stove in the attic room.
At 1882 Montana highway 135, just outside of Paradise and 12 miles from Plains, homeowner Ruth Winkler watched her home go up in flames as Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District and Plains Volunteer Fire Department worked to contain them.
Winkler stated she had “smelled something funny” coming from the attic room and guessed the blaze was caused by her son’s space heater wood stove, which was located in the attic room.When Winkler looked up, she saw grey smoke and fire.
The fire was reported at 4:50 p.m. and the first team of firefighters arrived on scene at 5:12 p.m. Rural Chief John Holland said due to the extensive damage done to the structure upon arrival of his team, they took to fighting the fire with a defensive strategy.
“In a defensive fight, we do not send firemen into the house,” Chief Holland said. “If it were an offensive one, then they go in. But by the time we got there, it was already burning real big and there were live wires. The structure was a total loss. But we couldn’t let it spread.”
One of the power lines caught fire and sparked before blowing early into the fire. Northwestern Energy came out and disconnected the electricity while the firemen continued to survey and fight the house fire. Chief Holland said it was their first house fire of the year.
A total of six engines from both Rural and City assisted in the incident. As the flames consumed the red two-story abode, large surrounding pine trees began to blacken from heat and smoke, as well as catch fire. The firefighters worked for nearly an hour to contain the flames down to a reasonable size and to protect the trees from spreading the fire into the surrounding forest.
At one point during the blaze, flames rose as high as 30 feet in the air, catching the high branches of the pines and billowing black smoke made it hard to see.
The Forest Service dispatched a water engine to the scene due to the timber fire; however, according to Chief Holland, the flaming trees were put out and the water brought in by the Forest Service was used to pump one of the Rural engines.
“We were out there until 10:30, maybe 11 o’clock [that] night,” Chief Holland said. “It was contained, but with house fires like that, sometimes other things catch fire in the night, but we can’t go back to investigate further because it’s technically out of our district.”
No injuries were reported from the incident. Winkler, who was at home with her dog and young son at the time of the fire, said she was only able to grab a few things.
Be sure to check out vp-mi.com as more details regarding this incident become available.