Strong fire, stronger community

A fire broke out in Paul and Betty Strong's home 691 McCaffery Rd. at 5 a.m. on Jan. 19, burning the center of their home and causing primarily smoke damage to the interior.

We were asleep when the fire started, and we woke up to a noise that sounded like someone was throwing wood in the stove,” Betty Strong said. “My husband sat up in bed, and the door was cracked open and he could see the living room was very bright and knew immediately that something was wrong.”

The flames were combined to the two living rooms, started around the chimney and engulfed the ceiling. The flames went up through the ceiling into one of the upstairs rooms and a hole collapsed.

“Amazingly, a lot of the stuff I thought was destroyed was not,” Paul Strong said. “I found my eye glasses in the living room underneath the ashes, I had already ordered a new pair, but I'm wearing them now.”

Bigfork Fire Department responded to the fire and told the Strong's had Paul not used a fire extinguisher on the flames the house would have burned down.

“As soon as he zapped it there was black, awful, horrendous smoke,” Betty said. “We both inhaled quite a bit of smoke and he did sustain some burns on his arm trying to get back to the bedroom door. We were in the emergency room for four hours. He is definitely a hero.”

After using the extinguisher on the flames, Paul punched out their bedroom window with his bare hands so he and Betty could escape safely. Small cuts from the window resulted in three stitches later that day.

“After he got through the bedroom and smashed through the window, he started throwing out my bedroom clothes so I would have something to wear incase our house burned to the ground,” Betty said. “He's amazing, and I definitely want to stress the only thing I care about is that we're safe, and alive and together, that's the most important thing. We were definitely protected and are so blessed that we were basically woke up so we could escape, so we give all our credit to God.”

Every other week the Strong's host the church elders for Bigfork's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, this week was not one of their weeks to host. Had their church elders been in their usual bedrooms, the Strong's speculate that they would have died from smoke inhalation.

“There are many blessings like that (the elders not staying in their home that night),” Paul said. “Some may look at it and think 'what a tragedy,' but it's not, the stuff can be replaced. Anything that could not have been replaced like photo albums were in the bedroom and they were fine.”

The Strong's home is currently in a stable condition with no threat of the roof collapsing.

“I got the valuables out already, the guns and anything of value,” Paul said. “The only thing left is some of the furniture just needs some love and care to get the smoke off.”

The Strong's will start work on Monday, their daughter, Rachel, who lives in Butte, is having surgery on Monday.

“I'm sure everything is going to be alright, we just want to be there for her,” Paul said.

Many have offered to help the Strongs since the fire broke out, and their cellphones have been ringing “nonstop.”

“We don't want to draw attention to ourselves; we've had such an outpouring of help that I don't know what we do with more,” Paul said. “We're real fortunate, been blessed in many ways throughout this, it's part of the trials of life.”

The Strongs are currently staying with Paul's sister and brother-in-law, Denise and Roy Wodarz, who live next door.

“(I would like to give a special thanks to) the fire department, QRU and don't want to start listing names because I don't want to leave anyone out,” Paul said. “I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I don't know how word got out so fast but everyone has been wanting to help. … It's just been overwhelming, the love and affection.”

“I don't care about anything in the house, just care that my husband is alive and safe,” Betty said.