Escape from the flames

Sherry Doyle is happy to be alive after escaping from a fire that destroyed her Kila home Wednesday.

While collecting food and other items from a private charity in Kalispell, the 28-year-old shared the story of her survival and what will come next for her family of four.

It all began while Doyle was taking a nap. Her fiance, Chayne Caswell, was at work, and her two boys, 5-year-old Hunter and 9-year-old Isaah, were in school. Shortly before 11:30 a.m., Doyle woke up coughing.

“I opened my eyes to grab for a drink but couldn’t see anything,” Doyle said.

The reason she couldn’t see anything — and why she was coughing — was that the bedroom was completely full of smoke from the blaze raging just beyond her door. She grabbed her phone and called 911, but just after telling the dispatcher about the fire, the phone died.

Worse still, the floor was on fire just outside her door so she couldn’t leave the room, and the smoke obscured her vision enough that she couldn’t find the lock on the window. She eventually was able to find the lock by touch and threw open the window.

“I dove out headfirst, because I felt like I was going to pass out, and drug myself out onto the grass,” Doyle said. “I couldn’t breathe; I just kept gasping for air and coughing up stuff. I had black stuff coming out of my nose.”

She said she was very confused and only remembers two people grabbing her and dragging her away from the house, voices and eventually the ambulance she was loaded into.

“It wasn’t until I was in the ambulance that I really realized that my house had been on fire,” she said.

Despite her close call, Doyle escaped, suffering only from smoke inhalation. But it would be several hours still before she was able to see Caswell and her children. She finally got in touch with Chayne through a friend and saw Hunter and Isaah about two hours later.

“I just squeezed them tight and cried and cried,” Doyle said.

The fire capped a rough four months for the family.

Caswell’s mother, Carol Heater, and aunt, Fern Johnson, died Aug. 8 in a kayaking accident while in Alaska for a family reunion.

In addition, Doyle said Heater was always trying to get the couple, who have been together for seven years, to get married. After Heater’s death, Caswell proposed to Doyle with a sapphire ring. That ring was still in the trailer when Doyle escaped. She said Caswell had plans to go back to the home and try to find it in the ashes.

Caswell had another, more minor tragedy Monday, when he rolled his truck. He suffered only a sore neck and back, but the pickup was destroyed. Then the fire came on the heels of Isaah’s birthday Tuesday, destroying not only his birthday gifts but the family’s Christmas gifts, not to mention all their belongings.

Not everything is negative, however, as different agencies and people are already beginning to step up and help the family. The American Red Cross has provided the family with some food, clothing and shoes, as well as putting them up in a hotel until Saturday.

Several friends of the family have agreed to take turns housing the family after that while they look for a more permanent home. On Thursday, the private charity from whose building Doyle shared her story provided her with canned and perishable food and other supplies, including a coat for Hunter.

While Doyle was waiting in the office, another woman receiving help from the organization told her of another opportunity for short-term help.

Anyone else wishing to help the family can contact Doyle’s mother, Lena, at 309-2851. Any time after 5 p.m., people can also call Caswell at 897-4016. Donations can be dropped off at Lena’s home, located at 600 E. Evergreen Drive in Kalispell.