Fire damages C. Falls home

A Columbia Falls home was heavily damaged by fire about 9:20 a.m. Tuesday morning, though no one was injured in the blaze.

Firefighters saved several pets from the flames. They put a couple of dogs inside empty vehicles outside the house to keep them safe while they fought the fire.

The blaze was discovered by renter Eileen Lucien, who lives in the east end of the house. Lucien said she smelled smoke and called 911.

The fire appears to have started in the garage below the apartment, but an exact cause wasn’t known by presstime.

The fire burned up through the roof of the garage and into the apartment.

The house is owned by Linda and Ivan Jaquette. Neither of them were home at the time. Linda, who works as a graphic designer for the Hungry Horse News, was at work in Kalispell when the fire broke out.

“I told my boss, shut off my computer, my house is on fire,” she said, as she left to come home.

She said her side of the house was undamaged by water or smoke, but the electricity had been shut off.

Jaquette said she lost several valuable items in the fire, including a wagon and all of her saddles. She said they did have insurance.

No pets, save for a few chickens Jaquette was raising in the garage, died.

Temperatures in the low teens and stiff wind seemed to stoke the blaze.

Firefighters from Columbia Falls, Bad Rock and Creston battled the fire. The home is located on U.S. Highway 2 about a mile east of the Flathead River. Three Rivers Ambulance was on standby.

Firefighters were still investigating the fire and cleaning up at 3 p.m.