Second fire in two weeks puts families out in the cold

By Jennifer McBride / Leader Staff

James McKee was as ready as anybody could have been for the fire. He had been concerned about the wood stove, so he piled up photo albums and family artifacts in a stack near the door.

Outside the burned ruins of his home on Wednesday, McKee carefully sorted through his items, including pictures of his family and a hymnal his grandmother used to own, which McKee said is over a century old.

McKee ended up losing the least of any of the residents of the three-apartment house fire on the corner of 15th street and 5th avenue in Polson last week. According to fire department public information officer Karen Sargeant, McKee's apartment was the only place where anything could be salvaged.

Overall, Sargeant estimated that the flames caused more than $250,000 in damage to the structure and contents, although she emphasized that that was a rough estimate.

The fire was the second serious call Polson firefighters responded to in the last two weeks, and one of a rash of house fires in Montana that a Red Cross press release called "unprecedented."

Following last week's fire, the Red Cross announced they had been called to 31 Montana house fires in the past 45 days — including four in Lake County.

Though the landlords had insurance on the house, McKee didn't, and neither did the other families living in the house.

Olivia Erickson, mother of two young children, had just finished her Christmas shopping her when her house burned down. She had been in her apartment when she smelled smoke, looked over and saw the couch on fire. Erickson grabbed her two children, three and five, and carried them out into the cold.

Sargeant said the fire started in the northeast apartment against the lower wall. Though fire officials aren't exactly sure what caused the flames, they guessed from Erickson's description that it was an electrical malfunction.

"But there was so much fire damage it was impossible to determine the exact [starting] point," Sargeant said. "That whole side of the building's gone."

Sargeant said the department took 45 minutes to subdue the fire, mostly because of the house's unusual construction. By dividing up the house into apartments, the homeowners created air pockets. Sargeant said fire naturally flows from one air pocket to another. The air space between the old roof and the new roof left the Polson fire department crawling over the house with chain saws and crowbars.

"Essentially we had to chase the fire," Sargeant said. "It was a tough fire, because of that."

Sargeant said the fire department used their new Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS) on the house. CAFS mixes air, foam and water and uses less water than their previous system, making it more efficient.

"Last week, it came in really handy," she said. "It does a really good job."

Three engines and one rescue unit responded from Polson. Ronan contributed a pumper and a Rapid Intervention Team—a trio of crew members with intensive, special training who stand outside a fire with a charge line in case one of the firefighters gets in trouble.

Sargeant estimated that the fire destroyed three-quarters of the house's structure and almost all of the occupants' belongings, including furniture. The Red Cross came on scene to offer the occupants help, which Sargeant said was a comfort to the firefighters.

"I'm so glad we have them because as firefighters you're standing there and you're looking at a house that's been destroyed and you see these people literally out in the cold," she said. "It takes a lot off our minds so we can do our job."

Often, the Red Cross will put people up for the night in the Bayview Inn, but for the moment, Erickson and her children are staying with her mother. They're hoping people in the community can help them get their lives back together, because Erickson said she had nothing left. Primarily, she said, she and the children need basics including clothes, kitchen supplies, and other items.

If you can help, please call Erickson at 883-1966.