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.