Hayley Matthews was all ready for winter.

The single mother of three had nearly six cords of wood stacked by the back door of the home she was renting on Middle Road. In the basement she had stockpiled 3,000 pounds of pellets for the wood stove.

She had filled her freezer and had “jam-packed” the cupboards in preparation for Thanksgiving. She had just bought 200 pounds of dog food.

With her most recent paycheck, she bought new winter coats for her children and herself. She had finished Christmas shopping, saving four months for an XBox 360 and games for her son Kaden, 10. An English jumping saddle and bridle were tucked away for her 13-year-old daughter Darien, whose birthday is Monday.

Yes, Hayley Matthews was prepared.

She had taken an extra measure of caution by setting up an appointment at 10 a.m. Wednesday to get a renter’s insurance policy from Mike Hanson of Farmers Insurance in Whitefish.

But just four hours before she intended to sign the paperwork for that insurance policy, her house burned down.

“It’s all gone,” she said Thursday afternoon, surveying the destruction.

“It’s toast. There’s nothing left.”

The large amount of firewood and pellets stored in and near the home were fuel for the flames, prompting firefighters to use 16,000 gallons of firefighting foam to combat the flames.

Though fire officials still are investigating the cause of the fire, Matthews suspects it could have started from a hot-tub malfunction, because when she first spotted flames they were coming from the underside of the deck.

“I know people say don’t be materialistic, but this is hard,” she said Thursday.

She’s thankful she and her youngest two children were able to flee the fire in time and take refuge in a vehicle in the 6-degree winter chill that morning.

And Matthews is thankful her older daughter, Taryn, 22, was staying that night with her boyfriend, Jake Zakavec. Taryn is recovering from injuries she sustained in a car accident two weeks ago, and firefighters said her bedroom was one of the first areas of the home to collapse. She would have perished in the fire had she been home.

As Matthews paused to make sense of the tragedy, one of their missing cats, Gabby, appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Darien began sobbing as she scooped up her beloved kitty in her arms. Another cat, Baby, still is missing.

The family was able to save two new litters of puppies and two full-size dogs as they ran out of the house.

“I tell my kids, yes we lost everything, but maybe this is a new start,” Matthews said.

And she wonders about what may have been divine intervention during the fire.

Matthews said she doesn’t own a Bible, largely because she had wanted to inherit her mother’s white, velvet-lined family Bible that went back several generations. There was a family squabble over the heirloom Bible, and when Matthews didn’t inherit it, she said “fine, I guess I won’t own a Bible.”

As firefighters fought the blaze, a few were startled when something came flying out of the garage and landed on Matthew’s nearby Chevy Blazer. It was a Bible.

“It just flew onto the hood of the Blazer, and it was opened to Psalms. It just shot right out like it had been shot out of a rocket. The firemen couldn’t believe it.”

Matthews suspects the Bible was among items still stored in the garage by Kandy Clarke, the owner of the home.

Now it’s time to build a new life.

Matthews would like to find a three-bedroom rental within the Deer Park School District. She and her children love Deer Park School, and she doesn’t want to uproot them.

She also needs a place with room for two horses.

“I have the fencing. That didn’t burn,” she said.

The four-wheeler her two youngest children used to get back and forth to school burned up. Matthews found it melted against a charred wall.

She had worked out a system where Kaden and Darien participated in an after-school program at Deer Park and then took the four-wheeler home, because she works at her job as manager of Hometown Movies & More in south Kalispell until 6 p.m. weekdays.

The family’s vehicles were spared, but that’s literally all. They’re in need of everything from a microwave oven to beds and clothing.

“I’m the one that gives,” she said, again contemplating the loss. “You never think this is going to happen to you.”

How to help

Jake Zakavec is coordinating donations of furniture and household items for the Matthews family that lost everything in a Wednesday morning fire. He can be reached at 885-0464.

Those wanting to donate money can go to any Glacier Bank branch and ask that it be deposited into Hayley Matthews' personal account. Checks also may be sent to Matthews' workplace in care of her at Home Town Movies & More, 1805 U.S. 93 S., Kalispell, MT 59901.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.