House damaged but dog fine after fire
<p><strong>Jeremy Grady</strong>, left, and Soren Koetter of the Kalispell Fire Department prepare to enter a burning house at 215 Hawthorne Ave. on Tuesday afternoon. Kalispell Police and Evergreen and West Valley fire departments also responded to the fire. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
A Kalispell family was thankful for a passer-by who reported smoke coming from their home Tuesday afternoon so that responders could act quickly and save their Pomeranian from a garage fire at 215 Hawthorne Ave.
The pooch was uninjured and happily running around the yard after the event, although the home’s garage was damaged.
Owner Anna Elwood said she and her husband, Bob, were away at the time of the fire.
Anna is the owner of Anna’s Greek Gyros and Pizza in Kalispell Center Mall.
The Kalispell Fire Department said in a news release that the fire was contained to the garage and that it caused an estimated $30,000 in damage. The cause of the fire was determined to be electrical.
Next-door neighbor Leo Stoltz said someone came and knocked on his door after the initial call.
“The smoke was coming out of the garage,” Stoltz said. Smoke eventually also billowed out from the eaves of the roof and the back of the home, but flames did not spread that far.
Firefighters from Kalispell, West Valley and Evergreen fire departments pulled smoldering and singed materials from the garage.
Neighbors praised the fire departments for getting there so quickly.
“They were fast,” neighbor Tamara Hamilton said. “They got it knocked down.”
The Kalispell Police Department, NorthWestern Energy and Flathead Electric Cooperative also responded to the scene.
Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.