Fire seems to be following family

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

Firemen from Columbia Falls, Bad Rock and Evergreen departments responded to a fire that heavily damaged a Martha Road apartment complex early Monday morning, but no one was injured.

The fire started in a second-story four-plex at 1 Martha Road in Columbia Falls. The unit, apartment C, was being rented by William Crawford and Candis Holt. Also residing there were Holt's 4-year-old son, Brandon, and her 10-year-old stepsons, Wyatt and Cody. Everyone but one of the stepsons was in the apartment at the time the fire began, and they all escaped uninjured.

Columbia Falls Fire Chief Bob Webber said the call came in at 3:47 a.m. and firemen from his department were on the scene quickly.

"They did a tremendous job," Webber said of the Columbia Falls, Bad Rock and Evergreen firefighters, who were able to extinguish the fire in less than an hour. "I'm very proud of them. Everyone worked great together. The cooperation in our part of the county is phenomenal."

Apartment C was a total loss, according to Webber, and the entire building was condemned — displacing the 15 people who lived there.

"The whole building is untenable right now," the fire chief said.

Webber called in the Flathead County fire investigation team to try to determine the cause of the fire. It was determined that the fire started on the balcony outside the apartment, but the cause was undetermined.

"We ruled out the fire being electrical. We ruled out smoking," Webber said.

It was the second time that a residence rented by Crawford and Holt was damaged by fire in less than four months. They were living in a house on Eighth Street West, a block off Nucleus Avenue, that caught fire on April 17. Holt and her son, Brandon, were the only members of the family home at the time. They were not injured. Holt's stepsons were at school when the fire started, and Crawford was also not at home.

Holt told authorities that she believed the April 17 fire started from an electrical heater in the bedroom. Webber said at the time the cause of the fire could not be determined.