A disabled U.S. Army veteran and his family are working to put their lives back together after a Nov. 2 fire claimed their Whitefish home and everything inside.

According to 28-year-old Tyrel Disney, he and his wife were in bed early that Friday morning when she smelled smoke.

“I thought she was crazy, so I laid back down to go to bed,” he said. “She kicked me in the butt to go look and I opened the bedroom door, and the whole house was filled with thick smoke. The bedroom filled with smoke in about five seconds.”

Disney and his wife sprang into action, grabbing their 3-year-old and 8-month-old sons Tyler and Emmit, putting a blanket over their heads and running outside. After the children and his wife were safe in their truck, he ran back inside and grabbed a fire extinguisher.

“I went and opened up the attic, aimed the fire extinguisher and pulled the trigger,” Disney said. “It was so hot the stuff didn’t even go up, it came back and went right in my face. It was so bad I couldn’t see or breathe or anything. I scrambled for the door and got back out, then ran up the road to try and find somebody to call 911.”

He managed to find a Jon Tester campaign office where there were still people working at three in the morning. After Disney pounded on the door “like a crazy person,” a man answered the door. When Disney told the man what was happening, he grabbed his cell phone and ran back to the inferno with Disney, calling 911 as they ran.

By the time firefighters arrived, the flames had consumed more than half of the dwelling.

“There was heavy smoke and flames upon our arrival,” Whitefish Fire Chief Tom Kennelly said later that day. “Because of the heavy smoke downstairs, they had to do a downstairs search before they realized the fire was up above them.”

Disney was happy to report this week that both of his sons had been checked by a doctor and had suffered no smoke inhalation or other injuries.

“They’re just confused and don’t understand,” Disney said. “Our 3-year-old just keeps saying, ‘Go home now?’ But what makes everything worse is that his birthday was just on the 30th.”

The interior of the home and their belongings, however, were a total loss.

“We can’t save anything out of the house because the attic was filled with old insulation and carpet remnants and foam, so everything in the house is covered in arsenic,” Disney said.

The restoration company working on the house “even told us we shouldn’t take anything out of the house at all. None of the toys can be salvaged. I had 15 guns in there and they all got toasted, our washer and dryer, everything.”

The family was living and working as residential managers of Mountain Mini Storage, and despite the fact that the owner had insurance that was supposed to cover their lost pay in the case of a fire, Disney said that is not the case.

“We ran the mini storage in exchange to live there,” Disney said. “Because of that, it was supposed to be covered but it didn’t, so nothing of ours is covered.”

The owner has put the family up in a nearby hotel and is trying to help them find an apartment. So far they have been unable to find one they can afford.

“What makes it so hard is that we live on a very, very, very fixed income,” Disney said.

That income is in the form of checks from Veterans Affairs.

Disney, who enlisted in the Army in 2002 because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, suffered a back injury and a traumatic brain injury after he was in the back of a Stryker armored vehicle when it was blown up during his third tour in Iraq.

His injuries prevent him from performing the basic requirements of many jobs.

“You get paid at the first of every month and you’ve got to make it last for the whole month, so we got very good at budgeting,” Disney said. “We don’t party, we didn’t do anything dumb. Our kids are what we involve our life around, nothing else. We haven’t even been out to a bar in over two and a half years.”

Although Disney has family in the area, having been born in Whitefish and raised in and around the valley, none of them are in the position to help the family with its newfound financial troubles.

Disney’s wife, Franziska, 27, has no family or acquaintances in the area since she is from Germany and only moved to the United States after the two met while he was stationed in her home country.

The Disneys have received some help from the local Red Cross and from employees of the restoration company that is now working on the building, in addition to the support from the business owner.

The Red Cross provided the family with some clothes and some money, and the restoration company employees are cleaning their kitchen table and are going to try to salvage their television and stand if possible. The wife of the company’s owner also provided some toys and coats for the two boys.

Disney overflowed with thanks for their efforts as well as those of firefighters and Kennelly.

“While we were sitting out in the truck, Kennelly went into the house to get my wife’s phone and purse,” Disney said, while speaking on the same phone, their only form of communication.

“The firefighters were also so nice,” he said. “Me and my wife were having a really, really hard time and a couple of them came over and played with our 3-year-old to entertain him.”

Anyone wishing to help or donate to the Disneys can contact Tyrel at 471-3249.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.