Fire engulfs mill on Helena Flats Road

HANNAH SHIELDS | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 months, 4 weeks AGO

Whitefish firefighters along with multiple other departments battled a massive firewood mill fire on Helena Flats Road Tuesday evening. (Chris Peterson/Hungry Horse News)

Firefighters respond to a blaze at Montana Timberline Firewood Company on Helena Flats Road on Tuesday, Dec. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

One man is in critical condition after suffering severe burn injuries in a fire that ripped through a 30,000-square-foot lumbermill northeast of Kalispell on Tuesday night.

Personnel from more than a dozen fire departments responded to calls for a structure fire at the Montana Timberline Firewood Company facility on Helena Flats Road just after 9 p.m., Dec. 30, officials said. Drivers could see the conflagration from U.S. 2.

The fire had been burning for a while by the time responders arrived on scene, said Evergreen Fire Chief Craig Williams.

Firefighters from Bigfork, Ferndale, Somers, Creston, South Kalispell, Kalispell, Smith Valley, Marion, Columbia Falls, Bedrock, Blankenship Bridge, Whitefish, Hungry Horse, Martin City, Coram and West Glacier worked the blaze. Medical personnel from Three Rivers EMS and an A.L.E.R.T. helicopter also responded.

The fire was 100% contained as of early Wednesday afternoon, but firefighters remained on scene to monitor the flames.

“We're not really concerned,” Williams said, “because it's within the concrete.”

Water was drawn from hydrants at a hotel, adjacent apartment buildings and Glacier Park International Airport to quell the flames. Around 75 firefighters and 20 fire engines, including three ladder trucks and 10 to 12 water tankers, were involved in putting out the blaze, officials said.

AARON WALKER, an employee of the Montana Timberline Firewood Company, was life-flighted on Wednesday to a specialized burn facility in Salt Lake City for treatment, according to a GoFundMe page set up by family friends.

Walker, who lived in an RV on the site, lost both his car and home to the flames. He is one of about 10 employees at the firewood company who lost their jobs in the aftermath of the incident, said Assistant Manager Wayne Galloway.

Montana Timberline Firewood Company, a subsidiary of California Hot Wood of Lodi, California, supplies bundles of firewood to Albertsons and Safeway grocery stores in the area. The property was previously used as a dairy farm, he said. The California firm bought it 19 years ago.

The blaze racked up millions of dollars in property damage, Galloway said. Among the pieces of equipment destroyed were a forklift, grapple loader, a Bobcat skid steer loader and a work truck. The fire also consumed about 52,000 bundles of firewood.

“The inventory alone is worth close to a quarter of a million to half a million dollars,” Galloway said.

He found out about the fire around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, after receiving a call from his son. Galloway lives in a subdivision across the street and said he could see it from his driveway.

“It just makes me wonder how it started,” Galloway said. “Who in their bright mind thought it was cool to cause this.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Galloway said people in the area reported hearing fireworks that same night.

Montana Timberline Firewood Company Manager Nic Bedwell was devastated by the loss.

“It’s a tragedy,” Bedwell said. “... This organization supports a big part of the local logging industry.”

Some equipment survived the fire, he said, including the main saws, splitting machines and a log loader. But the machines are replaceable, Bedwell and Galloway said.

Their biggest concern was Walker.

“Personally, this [expletive] doesn’t matter,” Galloway said. “[Walker] is the only thing that matters.”

Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 758-4439 or [email protected].

Firefighters respond to a blaze at Montana Timberline Firewood Company on Helena Flats Road on Tuesday, Dec. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider