Couple escapes blaze with lives

A Libby couple narrowly escaped the

flames of their burning home in bare feet and pajamas early last

Friday morning.

Charles “Chuck” Tapia and Pat Kenoyer

weren’t hurt, but their two-story home at 412 Pioneer Road burnt to

the foundation. The rubble was still smoking late Friday morning

and the large attached garage stood with a caved-in roof. A pickup,

camper trailer and all-terrain vehicle that firefighters pulled out

sustained burn damage and were littered with insulation.

Assistant fire marshal Steve Lauer

estimated $300,000 worth of total damage.

Based on their observations, the couple

suspects the fire originated from a propane heater. Lauer said

Monday that the cause is being investigated.

Tapia awoke to an explosion around

12:45 a.m. From his bed, he could see through the doorway and out

into the front room where flames licked up the walls, consuming his

deer and buffalo mounts that hung high beneath the vaulted

ceiling.

He quickly roused Kenoyer, who recalled

looking out and seeing the wall begin to bulge. They jumped out of

bed and ran out through the kitchen, the front room, an additional

room and the garage before they were safely outside.

“We went all the way through and the

fire was chasing us,” Tapia said. “The only thing I got out of

there with was my pants. I was bare-footed, no shirt, no

nothing.”

The thick smoke made it difficult to

see, Kenoyer said, so she stuck close behind Tapia as he led the

way. The flames were dangerously close.

“It singed the back of my hair. I’ll

have to call the hairdresser and do some trimming,” she said with a

quiet chuckle.

The couple milled around late Friday

morning, not having slept since the fire, and wearing borrowed

clothing and shoes.

Tapia tried to use a generator to save

a freezer full of food still intact in the garage. Looking down at

his uncomfortable shoes, he said after they slept, the couple would

have to make a trip to Pamida.

Luckily, Tapia owns a row of small

homes along the road on his property, one of which was vacant.

Kenoyer said that between her kids and herself, she had a shed full

of furniture.

“All but the bed, we’ll have to buy

that,” she said. “A big family really helps.”

Kenoyer’s son-in-law, Niles Nelson,

arrived at the scene Friday and tried to lighten the mood.

“I said, ‘So mom, you’re going to have

to see the beauty parlor today, huh?’ She goes, ‘I’ll have to

finish getting the rest of my hair cut off,’” he said to Tapia. “We

can’t replace you guys. We can always replace the house, but we

can’t replace you guys.”

Kenoyer probably agrees more than

anyone. She lost her son at age 21 in a house fire decades ago.

“We both said, nothing up there is

important if we both got out healthy,” Kenoyer said. “Whatever we

lost, we’ll buy it, and if we can’t, we’ll do without. We’ve got

each other.”

By the time the couple escaped the fire

and made it down their driveway – a short, snowy hill – the Libby

Volunteer Fire Department had already arrived. Twenty-three

firefighters using two engines, four tenders and a command vehicle

worked 5-1/2 hours to put it out.

Tapia has owned the property for 30

years, and the house was built about 3-1/2 years ago, according to

Kenoyer.

In other fire news, Libby Volunteer

Fire Department responded to another house fire at 1 a.m. Saturday

at 1215 Washington Ave. No one was hurt, but the single-story

residence suffered approximately $15,000 worth of roof damage,

according to Lauer. A chimney fire progressed into a structure

fire, he said.