Fire destroys Truman Creek home
Jesse Davis | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 7 months AGO
<p>Firefighters battle a raging fire devouring a home Friday morning on Truman Creek Road southwest of Kalispell.</p>
<p>Fire crews respond to a burning home Friday morning on Truman Creek Road near Kila. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Flames and smoke erupt from the roof of a home Friday morning on Truman Creek Road near Kila . April 4, 2014 in Kila, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Flames and smoke erupt from the roof of a home Friday morning on Truman Creek Road near Kila . April 4, 2014 in Kila, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Fire crews unroll hoses at the scene of a house fire Friday morning on Truman Creek Road near Kila . April 4, 2014 in Kila, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Thick smoke blocks the sun as fire crews respond to a fully-engulfed home Friday morning on Truman Creek Road near Kila . April 4, 2014 in Kila, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Fire crews respond to a fully-engulfed home Friday morning on Truman Creek Road near Kila . April 4, 2014 in Kila, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Fire crews respond to a fully-engulfed home Friday morning on Truman Creek Road near Kila . April 4, 2014 in Kila, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
A Flathead County couple’s house was destroyed in a raging inferno Friday morning.
About an hour after Greg and Rachel Murphy left their home at 2268 Truman Creek Road, their neighbor reported flames shooting out of the windows.
By the time firefighters arrived, the house south of Kila was completely engulfed in flames.
So complete was the destruction, Smith Valley Fire Chief DC Haas said, there is no way of learning what caused the fire.
“It’s such a loss we’d be unable to prove how it started,” Haas said. “When you’re doing an investigation you usually need char patterns or a trail to follow.”
Thanks in part to the sheer number of firefighters on the scene, a nearby garage was saved.
“We were able to put up a stream to provide protection for the garage,” Haas said. “The wood got a little warm, but that’s about it.”
He estimated there were 18 firefighters at the scene from his department as well as West Valley, South Kalispell, Marion, Evergreen and Kalispell fire departments.
Responders from West Flathead EMS also were there, along with representatives from Flathead Electric Cooperative, who cut the power to the home.
Haas shared his immense appreciation for the help provided by all the responding agencies.
“We would have been lost without them,” he said. “It’s nice to see all those departments working together so well. It went as well as it could, considering. We had no problem fighting the fire, it was just such an involved fire when we got there.”
Haas said the only real challenge with the fire was the distance getting to it more than four miles south of Kila on Truman Creek Road.
“It was so far up there, and you could only go so fast on those roads and be safe, but we really had no problems getting apparatus in there. If there was snow on the ground that would have been different,” he said.
Lew Savik with the American Red Cross said the Murphys had insurance and had everything under control and did not need Red Cross assistance.
Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.