Fire engulfs Mountain Harbor duplex
A fire in the Mountain Harbor
subdivision on Saturday evening totally destroyed a residential
duplex building.
According to Whitefish fire chief
Thomas Kennelly, the call to 911 dispatch came in about 7 p.m. from
a resident who spotted the fire from the opposite side of Whitefish
Lake.
The fire began in a unit in the duplex
that was under renovation and spread to the adjacent unit, which
was not occupied at the time and is a vacation home.
The fire is under investigation, but
the contractor doing the renovation work was using a secondary
heater to keep the unit warm.
Twenty-seven firefighters responded to
the scene but were unable to enter the building because it was
engulfed in flames, Kennelly said. The roof was burned through, but
firefighters in self-contained breathing apparatus were able to
protect belongings in the adjacent unit from water damage.
Nine full-time firefighters and 13
volunteers responded from the Whitefish Fire Department. A ladder
truck and crew arrived from Kalispell, and a tender and crew
arrived from Columbia Falls.
Kennelly said the fire was under
control in about 2 1/2 hours, and a crew remained on site until 11
a.m. on Sunday. Firefighters had to keep the fire from spreading to
other duplexes in the subdivision, which are located close
together. There were no injuries, he said.