Fire destroys family's home

A Bigfork family has been left homeless after a Friday morning fire destroyed their house on Terrance Hill.

No one was hurt in the fire. But the Bigfork Area Chamber of Commerce said the fire destroyed the home of Chris King, an employee at Bigfork Harvest Foods, and his family, two boys ages 18 and 9, and two girls ages 3 and 5.

"They have been left with nothing," states the Chamber's release, which asks that donations to help the family be dropped off at Bigfork Harvest Foods.

Wayne Loeffler, chief of the Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department, said the dispatch call came at 8:20 a.m. and his initial responders were on the scene, only about two blocks east of the Fire Hall, within seven minutes.

"The side toward the street was engulfed with fire coming out of the upstairs and basement windows," said Loeffler, adding that the fire spread "pretty rapidly" toward the rear of the two-story house.

Neighbors and witnesses reported smelling smoke and hearing a "big blast," most likely at a point when the fire inside the home generated enough heat to blow out windows.

People familiar with the family said the house was unoccupied at the time.

"We went on a defensive mode ... we stayed on the outside" because of weakening walls. Eventually the fire was knocked down from with the help of the department's ladder truck.

"When it's going like that you needs lots of water," he said.

Grand Drive, one of the main entrances into downtown Bigfork, was temporarily closed because of hose lines crossing the road.

The scene was not cleared until about 4 p.m. Friday.

Loeffler said about 29 people responded to the fire, including ambulance personnel and firefighters from the Creston and Ferndale fire departments. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.