A Eureka couple who returned home after being gone less than 20 minutes Thursday afternoon found their house — and everything they owned — in flames.

“On our way home, we saw the smoke cloud and thought, ‘Wow, that’s dark,’” Scott Bernhard said. “As we got closer we realized it was in our neighborhood, and then we saw it was our house.”

Bernhard said he and his wife had been out to check on a second job for her before returning to their home at the intersection of Second Avenue East and 12th Street.

He said their 12-year-old daughter, 10-year-old son and 6-year-old son — whose birthday was Wednesday — were all gone at summer recreation programs.

The family also has two dogs and a cat.

“The dogs got out and the cat wasn’t in the house that we know of at the time,” Bernhard said. “Friends of the family have the dogs now. They’re pretty freaked out; they were terrified.”

As for himself, his wife and children, Bernhard said Thursday they were still trying to wrap their heads around what happened.

“It’s still kind of a shock,” Bernhard said just two hours after the fire while collecting clothes for his children at a food pantry. “I don’t know, it’s hard to describe, just kind of a numb feeling.”

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, although it is believed to have started in the kitchen. Bernhard was stumped by the fire’s starting point, noting that nothing was on, not even the coffee pot. He said the only things in the house that were plugged in and turned on were the refrigerator and the dryer, but the dryer was in a different area of the house.

A stay-at-home dad and Red Cross volunteer, Bernhard said he was unprepared for the loss.

“I haven’t [been to any fires] with the Red Cross yet, but I used to be on a volunteer fire department and have been to a lot of house fires, just never one at my own house,” Bernhard said.

Bernhard’s wife works as a cashier at a grocery store, although she is also a licensed paramedic and hoping to get hired by an ambulance or emergency medical service somewhere in the Flathead.

Now the family is just looking to pick up the pieces. With the house and everything inside a total loss, the Bernhards are starting over from scratch.

“At this point, we’re pretty much going to need everything,” Bernhard said.

The family already is receiving some help, both from the Red Cross and from their church, the First Church of God in Eureka. The church’s pastor, Justin Michaels, immediately responded to the Bernhards’ home when he heard what happened and was with the family at the food pantry. Bernhard called his help and the church’s help “instrumental.”

The church is collecting all donations for the family, both items and money. Anyone wishing to donate money can write a check to Church of God Benevolence, and it will be put into a separate account being administered by the church for the family.

For more information on how to help the Bernhards, contact Michaels at (406) 253-0780.

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