Woods Bay home burns down

By Laura Behenna

for the Leader

A Woods Bay family’s mobile home burned to the ground early Friday morning, Feb. 23, but the family inside managed to escape without injury.

Bigfork, Ferndale, and Creston Fire Departments and Bigfork Ambulance responded to the fire at the Orchard Hills Trailer Court in Woods Bay at 2:11 a.m. By the time first firetrucks reached the scene, the mobile home was engulfed in flames, said Bigfork Fire Department spokesman Rick Trembath.

A burning candle left unattended appears to have caused the fire. Two men and a teenage girl narrowly escaped injury after one of the sleeping residents awakened from the heat of her blanket on fire and woke the other two. They hurried outside into the snowy night with bare feet and no warm clothes. Neighbors sheltered the victims until relatives were able to come and help. The home and all of its contents were a total loss, but two adjacent mobile homes were not damaged.

The girl’s father, Vernon Moore, was at work in Kalispell when the fire occurred. The family is staying with Moore’s mother in Kalispell.

A total of 21 firefighters responded with four engines, four water tanks and a heavy rescue along with Bigfork Ambulance support personnel. Volunteer firefighters controlled the blaze quickly, “but mop-up operations lasted about five hours,” Trembath said.

Smoke alarms were either not in use in the home or if present, they didn’t function properly, he said.

Red Cross is assisting the family with recovery from the loss of their home, and a relief account has been opened at Glacier Bank in Evergreen. Interested persons may send donations to Glacier Bank, 2199 Highway 2 East, Kalispell, MT 59901. Please enclose a note stating the contribution is for the House Fire Account of Vernon Moore.

Trembath said the fire was a “close call.”

“We’ve had several close calls,” he added. “If you get enough close calls, you’re going to have a fatality.”