Fireworks incidents at minimum over weekend

While Independence Day is always a busy time for emergency responders, area fire chiefs said incidents related to fireworks were few and far between this year, due largely to a countywide ban on the use of fireworks.

The Flathead County 911 Dispatch Center was busy over the holiday. Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the center took nearly 500 calls from 4 p.m. on July 4 to 4 a.m. the next morning. Of those calls, 213 were about fireworks complaints.

Few of the calls translated into fire emergencies.

“We didn’t write a lot of tickets, not for that offense,” Curry said. “Our goal was to make sure that everybody was safe.”

Smith Valley Fire Chief DC Haas said he felt “folks did an amazing job heeding warnings.”

Haas said he was grateful for how the holiday turned out in his fire district.

“I think throughout Western Montana, it was definitely something needed,” he said.

Backed by area fire officials, Haas pleaded for extreme caution last week amid unseasonably warm and dry conditions. Days later, Flathead County joined most Western Montana counties in banning the use of fireworks.

Independence Day did have a troubling start, though. A house fire was reported shortly after 8 a.m. on Saturday, which brought responders to Ashley Creek Lane in Kalispell.

It was a home that had been converted into two apartments.

“There were a lot of people in there at the time of the fire, all sleeping,” Kalispell Fire Chief Dave Dedman said.

A passerby was able to alert the occupants. Everyone escaped without injury, Dedman added.

The fire started outside of the house and crews were able to extinguish it before flames could spread inside. The damage has been estimated at around $6,000.

Kalispell, Evergreen and Smith Valley Fire Departments responded to the scene. Kalispell Police, West Flathead EMS, Flathead Electric Cooperative and NorthWestern Energy also assisted.

Around the origin of the fire, officials found evidence of fireworks and “improperly discarded smoking materials,” according to a release from Dedman.

For the rest of the weekend, Kalispell firefighters had few smoke investigations. Dedman attributed this, in part, to the fireworks ban.

“I think it did make a difference,” he said.

Another human-caused fire was sparked on Sunday, reportedly caused by a discarded cigarette. The West Valley Fire Department quickly put out the grass fire.

What brought fire departments out over the weekend wasn’t as much fire calls as power-line calls. Wind gusts kicked up late Saturday night as a cold front moved through the area and caused some power outages.

“Our crews worked throughout the weekend,” Flathead Electric Cooperative spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom Price said. “But thankfully, nothing extraordinary.”

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.