Empty store a 'total loss'

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/Daily Inter Lake

No one was injured in an early morning fire Wednesday at the Echo Lake Store near Bigfork.

Firefighters were dispatched to the unoccupied convenience store - located in the 100 block of Swan River Road near the intersection with Montana 83 - about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"When we pulled up on scene it was already fully involved," said Bigfork Fire Chief Chuck Harris. "There were flames coming out … 20 or 30 feet above the roof line."

Harris, who responded to the fire directly from his home, said he could see the glow from two miles away.

While the fire's cause has yet to be determined, Harris said some of the largest flames came from the middle of the building near its southwest corner. A state fire investigator was at the scene Wednesday afternoon, Harris said.

The building, which was being used as a game processing facility, reportedly had been recently put up for sale.

The gas pumps in front of the structure had been shut off some time before.

"We still treated them as if they were a hazard, but we were able to protect them and nothing happened so it all worked out," Harris said.

Because the building was unoccupied and fully engulfed in flames when emergency personnel arrived, firefighters set up to "protect adjacent structures and try to put the fire out from the outside in," Harris said.

Harris, who said the building was a total loss, could not put a dollar figure on the damage. However, the 3,100-square-foot convenience store was listed online for $599,000 late October.

"It was a significant loss," Harris said.

The Bigfork Fire Department responded to the fire with 12 firefighters, three engines, a water tender, rescue unit, and command truck.

The Ferndale Fire Department and Creston Fire Department combined to contribute an additional 12 firefighters, two engines, and two water tenders.

"And we used everything we had," Harris said.

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