Fire destroys trailer home
<p>Columbia Falls firefighters responded to an early morning blaze at a trailer home off Highway 40.</p>
A Columbia Falls trailer home was destroyed in an early morning fire on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Jamie Brandon said he was asleep by the wood stove in the trailer when the chimney apparently caught on fire at his home in the Hideaway Trailer Park off Highway 40.
The fire broke out about 5:45 a.m. Brandon’s brother Ian woke him up, and the two were able to escape unharmed.
The structure was completely engulfed, according to scanner reports. The Columbia Falls Fire Department responded to the scene. Fire Chief Rick Hagen said the structure was a total loss. More than a dozen firefighters responded, including an engine from Whitefish and an additional water tender from Evergreen.
Hagen agreed the fire likely started at the chimney or wood stove. He said it’s important that people with wood heat in their homes make sure that the stove and chimney have been cleaned and are working properly. The trailer also had no smoke detectors. It’s fortunate the men woke up, he said.
Brandon said he lost everything he owned in the trailer. He said he has no family outside of his brother and has no place to live. He owned the trailer, he said — it was not a rental and was not insured.