Fire victims always ready to help out others
The Barry family — Jim, Wanda and their son, Jamie — were “people worth remembering,” according to a neighbor and friend mourning their deaths in a fire last week.
Funeral services for James IV “Jim,” 63; Wanda, 52; and James V “Jamie” Barry, 15, will be today at 2 p.m.
The family died of smoke inhalation during a fire that gutted their Columbia Falls-area home early Friday morning. Initial reports indicate the fire started near the chimney of a wood-burning stove in the living room.
Jim and Wanda Barry worked as partners at Alpine Builders in Columbia Falls and attended Lion Baptist Church in Coram. Jamie was homeschooled.
“I don’t think it’s completely sunk in yet,” said neighbor Olaf Ervin, who lived near the Barrys for more than a decade. He likened the close-knit North Fork Road neighborhood to Mayberry, the town from television’s “The Andy Griffith Show.”
“We were constantly intertwined in each others’ lives,” according to Ervin, who said neighbors were always getting together for birthday parties and to help each other out.
“One time, Wanda saved me from my own bull,” Ervin said. The bull had him cornered in the bed of his pickup truck, so he called across the street, hoping one of the Barrys would bring a cattle prod and free him.
“She walked over in flip flops and shorts, holding an apple,” Ervin recalled with a laugh. “She says, ‘you idiot,’ and holds out the apple. The bull followed her home.”
The Barrys were great animal lovers, according to Ervin. They left behind cattle, a mule, goats, hens, ducks, geese, pigeons and doves. Homes have been found for the animals with family and community members.
Neighbors also helped board up the home so Wanda Barry’s mother, Frances Hawks, doesn’t have to stare into the wreckage.
“It’s been amazing the way this community has come in and helped us,” said Adrian Hawks, Wanda Barry’s brother.
The morning of the fire, Ervin’s family saw flames bursting from the windows of the Barry home and rushed over to try to awaken them.
The Columbia Falls Fire Department arrived on the scene soon afterward, but the Barrys had died by the time firefighters reached them.
It is unknown how long the fire had been burning before it was called in.
Smoke detectors were installed in the bedrooms and hallway of the Barry home, but the county fire investigation team was unable to find any batteries or battery residue near the detectors, which leads authorities to believe the detectors might have been missing batteries at the time of the fire.
“I am confident if they had a properly mounted working smoke detector in the area of their bedrooms, they would have stood a greater chance of getting out of there in time,” Columbia Falls Fire Chief Rick Hagen said.
Ervin said the tragedy prompted his family to hold a fire drill and check all their smoke detectors. He said it would be a shame if something like this happened again.
Funeral services for the Barrys are today at 2 p.m. at New Covenant Church on Birch Grove Road north of Kalispell. Burial with graveside services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Chester Cemetery in Chester.
Reporter Melissa Weaver may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at mweaver@dailyinterlake.com