Columbia Falls firefighters respond to two fires within four minutes

Columbia Falls firefighters were busy early Sunday morning after they received two major fire calls within four minutes of each other.

The first call came in for a fire at the Weyerhaeuser medium-density fiberboard (MDF) plant on line two at about 4 a.m. The second call came in for flames coming out of the roof of a house at 1135 Third Ave. W., Columbia Falls Fire Chief Rick Hagen said.

The fire department split its resources, with the rural fire engine going to Weyerhaeuser and the city engine going to the house fire.

No one was injured in either blaze.

The MDF fire was largely put out by Weyerhaeuser staff and the plant’s automatic deluge system. Firefighters from Bad Rock responded with mutual aid, and firefighters were on the scene making sure the plant was OK until about 5:30 a.m., Hagen said.

Weyerhaeuser officials said the line did not operate Monday as the company conducted “an intensive investigation into the cause so that it does not happen again.”

They then transitioned to help crews at the house fire, which was largely confined to the roof and attic — there was no fire below the ceiling, Hagen said. However, the house received extensive damage and the roof was a complete loss. It was a difficult fire to mop up, Hagen said.

Firefighters determined the fire started near the flue of the chimney, but no one was home at the time and there was no fire in the wood stove, either, though the family had a hot fire earlier in the day.

Evergreen and Whitefish firefighters responded with mutual aid to that blaze, Hagen said.

“I’d really like to thank Whitefish, Bad Rock and Evergreen for their help,” he added.

Firefighters were off the scene of the house fire at 8 a.m.