Fire destroys Woods Bay home
Flames roar from a mobile home in the Orchard Hills Trailer Court early Friday morning. Three people escaped from the burning home without injury. Rick Trembath photos
The Daily Inter Lake
Three occupants escape from flames
Three people narrowly escaped early Friday when a fire caused by an unattended candle broke out around 2 a.m. in a home at Orchard Hills Trailer Court in Woods Bay.
Fire prevention officer Rick Trembath said the mobile home was fully engulfed by flames when the first units of Bigfork, Ferndale and Creston fire departments arrived.
The home and contents were destroyed but two adjacent mobile homes were spared from damage.
The three adults in the home escaped after the heat of a blanket on fire awakened one of the sleeping residents. She immediately awakened the others and they ran out into the snow with bare feet and no warm clothes.
Neighbors temporarily sheltered the victims until relatives came to provide assistance. The Red Cross is assisting the fire victims.
The three fire departments responded with 21 firefighters, four engines and four water tenders along with Bigfork Ambulance support personnel. Firefighters knocked the fire down quickly but mop-up operations lasted about five hours.
According to Trembath, the trailer either had no smoke alarms or they were not functioning.
"This was a close call fire for the occupants," Trembath said. "Everyone needs to take fire precautions and prevention seriously."
House fires in Montana have taken four lives in the past few months while 59 people have died from fires across the country in just the first half of February.