Fire hits apartments; suspect arrested

The Daily Inter Lake

A raging fire early Friday morning destroyed or heavily damaged several apartments at the Mountain Villa complex just north of Kalispell.

The fire involved a total of 10 apartments at Mountain Villa at the intersection of West Reserve Drive and U.S. 93.

There reportedly were no injuries.

Apartment residents were evacuated to a Red Cross center set up at Glacier High School while several fire departments battled the fire.

The man accused of causing the Mountain Villa fire was arrested Friday on suspicion of felony criminal endangerment.

According to authorities, the fire started when the man used gasoline to try to ignite a fire in his fireplace. The flames then spread, gutting five apartments and leaving five more with smoke and water damage.

The apartment fire broke out around 1 a.m. Friday.

A few hours later, a mobile home was destroyed by a separate fire south of Kalispell.

See Saturday's Daily Inter Lake for photos and more on this story.