Fire destroys four-plex

For the second time in four months, Candis Holt and her family have been made homeless by fire.

"We're going to pick up the pieces and move on, again. Or at least try to," said Holt, whose Martha Road apartment was gutted by flames early Monday morning.

Holt, who had only moved into the Martha Road four-plex with her husband and three children after their Eighth Street East home was destroyed by a fire in mid-April, said she and her family were in shock.

"We're trying to hold it together, stay strong through it," said Holt, choking back tears. "We just started getting back on our feet."

Holt's father, Terry Denegan, drove up to his daughter's house Monday afternoon to retrieve a Seattle Seahawks hat he left there after the Sunday night football game.

"I came around the corner and thought I was delirious or something, you know," said Denegan, who waited at the residence until his daughter returned to comfort her. His cap was lost for good.

While the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, investigators do know that it originated from outside Holt's second story balcony, said Columbia Falls Fire Department Chief Bob Webber.

"And all indications are that it is a fire started by a human," added Webber, who did not rule out arson, or an accident, as possible explanations. An investigation is under way.

When firefighters responded to the residence at 3:45 a.m. Monday morning, flames were already spreading up into the attic and then back down into the apartment. The fire took several hours to extinguish completely.

Three of the building's four units were occupied, but everyone made it out under their own power and no one was injured, Webber said.

While Holt's apartment was almost entirely destroyed, firefighters prevented flames from reaching the building's other units. Still, damage was extensive enough for firefighters to rule the entire building uninhabitable - and make more than a dozen members of four families immediately homeless.

"I've never been through this. I have no idea what I'm doing," said Annette Jandron as she took, or returned, several phone calls. "But everyone's trying to find us a place to rent."

Jandron lived in the unit below Holt's with her three children, one of whom called 911 after waking up to falling embers and the bright glow. Then the family crawled out the back window.

"It's all pretty much water damaged and smoke damaged," said Jandron as she waited to get back into her apartment - which she has lived in since it was new and works two jobs to pay for - to retrieve some decades-old family photos.

Eric Thomas, who lives kitty-corner to Holt's unit with his two daughters, spent Monday morning moving his family's belongings out of the house in an effort to defeat the pervasive smell of smoke.

"There's no electricity or water or anything," said Thomas. "The owner's plan is to try and rehab [the two units opposite the fire] as fast as possible, within 30 days, you know, and get us moved back in."

Thomas, who will be staying with family in the area, said he woke up Monday morning to someone pounding on his door.

"There was just an extreme orange glow," said Thomas, who has also lived in the building since it was new, or about three years. "I was the luckiest out of everybody."

About 35 firefighters and seven fire trucks from the Columbia Falls Fire Department, Badrock Fire Department, and Evergreen Fire Department responded to the scene.

"All three departments worked very well together and everyone's level of training was very evident," Webber said.

Holt's Eighth Street East home burned in April when a mattress caught on fire. It was ruled accidental, but its cause remained undetermined. One scenario investigators considered was a malfunctioning heater in the bedroom.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com