Late Night Fire Drives Tenant from Rental Home in Montana

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - At about 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Missoula Rural Fire crews responded to an attic fire in the Target Range area.

KGVO News spoke to Missoula Rural Fire Department Battalion Chief Ron Lubke described the call on Monday morning.

The Fire Call Came in at about 10:00 p.m. on Sunday

“We received a dispatch of a possible attic fire at an address on Vito Lane off of Seventh Street in the Target Range area,” began Battalion Chief Lubke. “The caller was in the home and said he could smell smoke, had smoke detectors going off, and could see charring on his ceiling.”

Chief Lubke described the response as temperatures dipped well below zero on Sunday night.

The Fire Started in the Attic and was Quickly Knocked Down

“They quickly determined that they had a working fire in the attic,” he said. “We did a very aggressive interior attack and were able to get access into the attic where the fire was, and they were able to make a fairly quick knockdown on it. Unfortunately, it did smolder through a lot of the insulation in the attic, so there was an extensive amount of work that had to go into making sure it was completely out. They were able to stop the fire from doing much more significant damage to the house.”

Chief Lubke said several fire trucks and Missoula Rural Fire personnel responded to the fire.

The Tenant Spent the Night at a Local Hotel as the Investigation Progressed

“We had three engines, three water tenders, a ladder truck, and a command unit with a total of 16 personnel on scene,” he said. “They were there for about three hours. I believe the last unit left between 11 o'clock and midnight. We had to have the power turned off. We had Northwestern Energy respond and they turned off both the power and the gas to the structure so he (the tenant) is currently utilizing a hotel to stay at and he is going to work on getting the repairs done to move back into the house as soon as possible.”

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the Missoula Rural Deputy Fire Marshal. Missoula Emergency Services assisted the fire department at the scene.