By Ethan Smith - Leader Staff

A chimney fire that apparently started due to high winds destroyed most of a home outside of Polson Tuesday morning.

Polson firefighters responded to a house off Forman Road at about 8:30 a.m., and were able to contain the fire in about 45 minutes, but most of the home was either burned or suffered significant smoke and water damage, public information officer Karen Sargeant said.

“We estimated about $60,000 in damage,” she said. “Most of the front of the house was damaged, but the back of the house is salvageable. But smoke and water damage hurt a lot of the contents of the house.”

Even though the fire didn’t completely destroy the house, most of the family’s belongings are beyond repair.

“Ashley [my daughter] and I woke up smelling something, like burning plastic, and we looked around and couldn’t find anything. The wood stove had some stuff in it, and we figured the wind had blown the smell back into our house,” Angie Shepardson said. “So we thought that’s what it was.”

She went into town, and ran into her boyfriend, who told her that her roof was smoking. By the time she got back to the house, Polson fire crews were doing mop-up work.

“We lost everything. Over the past year, I had bought a nice flat-screen TV, a stereo system, our bed sets, everything. Now it’s all gone,” Shepardson said.

Her daughter Ashley was featured, along with several other Polson Middle School students, in a Leader story last month about a program called Kids-4-Kids. Ashley and other students there get food donations for needy kids, and then send backpacks full of food home with other students, anonymously, with the help of a school counselor.

Now she and her family find themselves in similar straits. Shepardson and her family have about two changes of clothes each, she said.

“The Red Cross helped us out, and got us a room, and gave us some gas to get to Missoula to buy some clothes. The Bayview Inn has been awesome to us,” Shepardson said. “Everyone has been great to us. We’re just trying to look at the most positive thing about it, which is that at least we’re alive.”

Shepardson said she hopes to rebuild on the same site. She said she wants to focus on rebuilding her family’s life right now, though.

“We’re just trying to get through the immediate situation right now. We’ll worry about rebuilding after we get back on our feet,” she said.

Sargeant said Monday night’s high winds most likely caused a downdraft in the chimney that night. The fire found a crack in the masonry, and slowly spread throughout the home’s attic areas. By Tuesday morning, it had gathered strength and made its way into other parts of the house.

“”We think it started in the chimney, and there was a crack in the masonry. It burned in there, and then went through the structure and into the bedroom, and it went up from there,” Sargeant said.

Ronan fire fighters responded for mutual aide, bringing one engine and one tender. Polson fire fighters had three tenders, and two engines.

Sargeant said firefighters had to “chase” the fire through several areas. Fighting it was more difficult because the home’s design had three separate attic areas. The fire kept jumping to different areas, Sargeant said.

“We had to chase it through three rooms with three separate attic spaces. It got a little interesting there for a few minutes,” she said.

If there was some good news, it was that the Polson Rural Fire District’s engine, purchased last spring, really came in handy with its new Compressed Air Foam system, Sargeant said.

The foam really saved on the amount of water needed, which reduced secondary damage to the house.

“We used only about half a tank of water. That’s what’s neat about it. There’s also less water damage, but unfortunately, we can’t do much about the smoke damage,” she said.

Sargeant said the fire is a reminder to homeowners to have their chimney inspected each fall. She said even if a chimney is clean, an inspection should turn up cracks like the one in that chimney, in which a fire can take hold and then flare up.

“It wasn’t so much that the chimney wasn’t clean, but that the wind just pushed the heat back down into the structure,” she said. “So you should get your chimney inspected by a professional. Most chimney sweeps are certified to do that. You need to make sure there’s no cracks in the flue or the masonry.”

The Red Cross is helping the Shepardsons. They will be staying at the Bayview Inn until they get back on their feet. Despite the Red Cross help, Angie Shepardson said the family needs clothes, shoes and other essentials.

“We don’t have anything. I’m thinking ‘Oh my gosh, right before Christmas.’ We had done all of our Christmas shopping the day before, including for Christmas dinner, and we lost everything,” Shepardson said, breaking down in tears. “But the community has been good, trying to help us get back on our feet.”

Anyone interested in helping the family can contact them at the Bayview Inn in Polson, at 883-3120.