Fire leaves mom, four kids homeless

Several local organizations are reaching out to help a woman and her four children after their Kila home and all their belongings were destroyed in a fire late Friday night.

Charity Gettig said the night began normally, with putting her children to bed and taking a bath before heading to bed herself.

Rather than sleep in her own room, however, she slept on a couch in her living room near the bassinet where her 4-month old slept.

Shortly before midnight, she was awakened by her living room smoke alarm going off. At first she thought she may have left the oven on, but found it was off. Then she saw the flickering orange light coming from the hallway toward the bathroom and her other children’s rooms.

“By that time my 8-year-old and 6-year-old were screaming and gagging, and there were flames shooting out from where the hot water heater was,” Gettig said.

She had to feel around and call for them as the smoke thickened, and her 18-month-old ran down the hall to her, crying.

Gettig said she remembered picking him up, but didn’t remember calling 911.

“I got cut off because the fire started going so fast it cut off my phone,” she said.

After getting the three children outside, she ran back in to get her 4-month-old, whom she couldn’t see until she was right in his face. By that point the fire was raging.

“I could hear the windows starting to explode,” Gettig said.

The fire spread so quickly that the Spring Hill Road home was fully engulfed by the time the first firefighter was on scene — and that firefighter lived next door.

The Smith Valley, West Valley, South Kalispell, Evergreen and Marion fire departments responded with more than 20 firefighters, according to Smith Valley Fire Chief Jill Cheman. With their combined effort — and an excavator — they cleared the scene approximately five hours later.

Cheman said a storage trailer near the home also caught fire, but firefighters were able to put it out. Cheman said the fire is believed to be electrical and started in the bathroom.

Along with the local chapter of the American Red Cross, the nonprofit organization Coats for Kids and local business Amore Salon are stepping up to help Gettig and her family recover from the fire.

The Red Cross paid for a motel room for a few nights and Amore paid for their stay in the motel room last night and also is going to help Gettig pay for a room at a cheaper motel with weekly rates moving forward. In the meantime, Gettig has been applying for apartments.

Coats for Kids is holding a donation event today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 45 River Road in Evergreen. People are encouraged to drop off donations of anything that could be useful, since the family lost everything. Gettig said the only things they have right now are a couple of outfits each and some diapers.

Tiffany Suhr of Coats for Kids at 885-0716 is spearheading donations for the family.

Looking back, Gettig encouraged people to make sure their smoke alarms are working at all times.

“If your fire alarm is beeping, do not hesitate to put a battery in there right away, because it was only my one fire alarm that went off,” she said. “Thank goodness it went off in my living room.”