Valley View home destroyed in blaze
Berl Tiskus
Flames shoot from the roof of a house in Valley View. The structure was a complete loss although the garage did not burn.
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Most of a two-story house on Buffalo Bridge Road in Valley View burned on Nov. 1. The home belonged to Shawn and Pam Wilson, and neighbors reported the fire at approximately 9:30 a.m.
Due to charring marks, the fire is believed to have started near the chimney area on the second floor, according to Karen Sargeant, Polson Fire Department public information officer. The fire was accidental, she said.
A fire was burning in the first-floor fireplace, but Shawn had banked it before leaving for work.
Polson city and rural firefighters responded and used both foam and water on the flames. Since it was a structure fire and Polson has an automatic mutual aid agreement, both Ronan and Finley Point Fire Departments also arrived. Because there are no fire hydrants in Valley View, firefighters used three porta-tanks, foldable square yellow pools about 3- feet high, to contain water, which was pumped onto the fire. Tender trucks fetched more water from Polson and drained it into the porta-tanks.
The house was a total loss, Sargeant said, although the attached garage was okay. Loss estimates were $320,000 for the house and $100,000 for the contents. With firefighters help, the Shawn was able to move some furniture out onto the lawn.
Nobody was hurt, Sargeant said, since Shawn and was at work, Pam was out of town, and the couple’s son was at school. The Wilson’s’ dog and cat also escaped.
“It was a stubborn fire,” Sargeant said. Firefighters stayed until 3:30 p.m. chasing smoke on the second floor.
Part of the stubbornness was that an older house provided the base layer for the home, which had been remodeled, and the fire penetrated the older home’s “bones,” Sargeant explained.
Sargeant complimented the Ronan and Finley Point Fire Departments on their great response.
Shawn said the family stayed with his father in Polson over the weekend.
After hearing all the horror stories about insurance companies, Shawn had high praise for State Farm Insurance, saying they have been great. He also said Red Cross was on the scene within an hour.
The house will have to be pulled down, since only the garage and the 10-foot by 10-foot utility room survived the blaze, Shawn added
