Fire makes 14 victims homeless

One day after an apartment fire displaced eight families in Troy, the Rev. Cam Foote of Troy Community Baptist Church sat in the church’s activity center surrounded by shoes, hats, gloves and toys. The donated items came in such abundance and so quickly that efforts to organize were abandoned when there were no more tables on which to sort items.

In the days following, Foote would have to direct donations elsewhere because of the overwhelming response.

“We have about 200 coats now,” Foote said. “We will probably connect with the schools to get kids some winter gear with what is left over.”

The floodgates opened shortly after Nicole Heyne, 21, posted a comment on Facebook requesting donations to the church.

“It’s been busy since then,” Heyne said. “I even had someone call from Colorado asking how they could help.”

Foote said several of the fire victims have visited the church to replace items lost in the blaze that began Wednesday night. The church became a registered Red Cross facility in 2007 and served as headquarters for victims in the hours after the fire at 106 W. Missoula Ave.

The fire burned into Thursday afternoon last week. In the days since, more specifics of the day have come to light.

“We were on the call for 16 hours,” Troy Volunteer Fire Department Chief Larry Chapel said. “There were about 20 men on the job and an average of 12 working at any given time. It was a bad fire and a big building.”

Chapel did not call for backup. Had a second fire started in Troy, Chapel said he would have sent members of his team from the apartment fire and then asked for assistance.

“My men have a lot of heart,” Chapel said. “We very much appreciate the community support. Feelings are so tender for the victims. Christmastime is about the worst to be without a home.”

Chapel said the power outage that affected buildings around the apartment was called for when firefighters noticed a power line adjacent to the burning building.

Scott Slauson of Libby’s Red Cross Disaster Action Team arrived at the scene about 5:30 a.m.

“The community has been great in response,” Slauson said. “A Troy school bus arrived for the victims early on. It gave them a warm place to be before heading to the Holiday Motel. The power went out there, but I let most people sleep while I developed contingency plans. I called Cam Foote, and he said he would do whatever he could to help.”

Red Cross spokeswoman Anna Fernandez-Gevaert said her organization provided financial and medical assistance to seven of the building’s eight apartments, leaving homeless as many as 14 people.

“This is really an example of a small group of people coming together to make a big difference,” Fernandez-Gevaert said.

The origin of the fire remains under investigation.