Seeley Lake resident Ben Shields does as much as he can with a garden hose Thursday, July 22 as a two-story home burned to the ground.
Seeley Lake Fire Chief Dave Lane waits at the junction of Juniper Drive and Redwood Lane for the Seeley Lake Type 1 engine to arrive. The two-story home was already involved with fire before the engine arrived.
Seeley Lake resident Michael Riel is handed a safety vest after evacuating the people from the homes before emergency responders arrived. He worked on the east side with other citizens manning the 2 1/2-inch hose to keep the fire from spreading further east.
Citizens led by former volunteer Kody Kelley pack the three-inch supply line from the hydrant back to the engine as it arrives on scene.
Seeley Lake volunteers Kyle Zumwalt and Jason Rawlings attack the two-story structure. They were among seven other Seeley Lake volunteers plus Seeley Lake Chief Dave Lane who responded Thursday.
The wind, temperatures in the 90s and low humidity caused the fire to spread quickly and made control challenging.
Wildland firefighters work to contain a 0.2 acre spot fire that started behind the Church of Latter-Day Saints, more than two blocks away from the main blaze.
Skeletons of cars, trucks, campers and other metal was all that was left Friday morning.
SEELEY LAKE – As Seeley Lake resident Michael Riel and his wife returned from Missoula around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 22, they noticed a light column of smoke from behind Pop's Place. A recently retired 11-year volunteer firefighter/EMT who understood that no one should be burning due to restrictions, he turned off Highway 83 onto Redwood Lane making his way to Juniper Drive to check it out. "It was evident that there was a fire cooking," he said. He began evacuating people from the area and warning people to the east.
Firefighters were called to a "tree close to structures." When they arrived a trailer house and two-story home were involved as well as many vehicles including a bus and camper trailer. The neighbors and community members were working to keep the flames from spreading using garden hoses. Everyone was evacuated from the burning structures and there were no injuries. One dog was lost in the fire. The cause is suspected to be electrical.
Before leaving the station, Seeley Lake Fire Chief Dave Lane was told by 9-1-1 that they were not going to catch it before it involved a home. Lane knew the area and how things were situated so he called for additional resources "especially when I could see the smoke from [the station]."
He requested Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and US Forest Service wildland engines as well as firefighters and engines from Greenough/Potomac and Swan Valley Emergency Services. It was suggested there was an engine available from East Missoula Rural Fire Department so he had them roll as well.
"They all had a really good response," Lane said. "I think calling early was the key to that."
Lane arrived first on scene just after 4:30 p.m. Riel briefed him about the evacuations. Riel said he was unable to do anything else because the fire moved so quickly.
Lane said the intent was exposure protection for the structures that were not involved. The wind was such a huge factor blowing strongly from the west, then switching to the southeast and finally blowing from the north, pushing the flames towards the two-story home. Flames ignited the north wall of the two-story home before the Seeley Lake engine arrived.
Seeley's Type I engine was the first structure engine on scene arriving around 15 minutes after the initial page.
"I would have liked to have a three minute response time. We aren't going to get that unless I have people sitting [at the station]," Lane said adding this was a good response considering where the volunteers were coming from.
While the engine arrived at the hydrant, Lane said members of the public pulled hose off the back of the truck "making a big pile of spaghetti."
"There were some training issues and there were some people not on the department that don't know how we do things that interfered with the proper deployment of hose," Lane said. "When they did that they destroyed the ability to deploy that supply line all the way to the scene. If I would have known how much supply line we had, I could have positioned the engine maybe different. The engine pulled up without supply line because they knew that I needed water and all the supply line had to be hand-jacked all the way up to the scene some 400 feet."
Citizens carried the three-inch supply line to the engine and hooked it up in less than a minute of the engine meeting up with Lane.
Two DNRC and two Forest Service engines had also arrived and were assigned to the wildland division. DNRC assisted with wildland urban interface cooling down torching trees and keep the fire from spreading in the grass to the east. The Forest Service engines assisted with structure protection.
"They did a great job containing that," Lane said.
An engine and a tender arrived from Greenough/Potomac Volunteer Fire Department around 5 p.m. with another engine arriving 15 minutes later. Swan Valley Emergency Services sent one engine which arrived around 5:30 p.m. followed by East Missoula.
The water tenders shuttled water supplying the Type 1 Structure engine and other mutual aid engines. While the tenders initially filled out of the same hydrant that was hooked to the Type I engine, they switched to using the hydrants by Tamarack Drive and the one behind the Bison and Bear Center on Pine Drive.
Water District Manager Vince Chappell explained spreading out the hydrants being used helps keep the water flow even through town. Because the hydrant behind the Bison and Bear is on a 16-inch main, the tenders were able to fill quicker than those south of Elm Drive on the 12-inch main.
Due to winds and high potential to spread, Missoula County Sheriff's Office implemented an Evacuation Warning for Seeley Lake residents from Highway 83 up Redwood Lane east to Badger Court and from Redwood Lane north on Spruce and Tamarack Drive to Cottonwood Lane. Residents were asked to be ready to leave at a moments notice. Local law enforcement and Seeley-Swan Search and Rescue also assisted with evacuations and traffic control.
Missoula Electric Cooperative arrived on scene. Lane said they told him what structures had power. Energy Partners also arrived during the incident to check on the propane tanks in the area.
Lane shared command with former member Shawn Ellinghouse. Lane took charge of operations and ran a hose as a front line firefighter with two other volunteers wearing self-contained breathing apparatus. Ellinghouse ran communications with 9-1-1 from the command truck.
Ellinghouse said his intent was just to go help his friends and do what he could to protect structures. When he arrived former member Kody Kelley was in the command truck. He turned the radio over to Ellinghouse when he arrived.
"[Shawn] was available. He came and wanted to help," Lane said. "I know he has experience, he was an officer at the department at one time. I felt fairly comfortable at that time to utilize that resource. I'm not going to kick resources away."
By 6:30 p.m. most of the flames were knocked down and firefighters were mopping up. All resources were released by 10 p.m.
Firefighters returned for hot spots reported around 12:30 a.m. Friday morning. They continued to patrol the area through the night and the next day.
A two-story home burned along with two trailers, a motorhome, a bus, several vehicles and a camper trailer. Ryan and Karmen Braulik owned the two-story home, living there with their nine-year-old twins. Kevin Kelley and his girlfriend Stacie Ledford lived in one of the trailers. Kelley and Ledford did not have insurance. Ledford lost her dog Marly in the fire.
Lane investigated with the Sheriff's Office. From Lane's assessment, the cause seemed to be an electrical problem that started outside close to the structures. The Sheriff's Office investigator conferred and stated they observed the same indicators.
"There were multiple issues with the electricity so it was hard to narrow which one it was," Lane said.
Chappell said 85,000-100,000 gallons of water were used on the fire. When the fire started, all the tanks were full at the Water District. He added the flow was sufficient with the gravity fed system providing 90 pounds per square inch of pressure at the main hydrant that was used.
"I am just happy to report that the District had more than enough water to fight this fire," Chappell wrote in an email. "The Fire Department used about 10% of our storage to fight the fire. The good part was we were able to keep up with everything and our system worked great."
Lane said some of the community members really helped out with the initial attack including former department members and firefighters from other areas.
"I really appreciate the help that showed up. There was a lot of people," Lane said. "The people that were bystanders stayed out of the way. Even the media didn't get too close," Lane said.
However once resources started arriving from other areas, Lane said it was really hard to get the public out of the way. It was very dangerous with ammunition going off and other explosions.
"There was a lot of heat and a lot of smoke. Part of our responsibility is community safety," Lane said. "I understand as family members and friends you don't want to go away. People need to understand we have the protection to get closer to do the mitigation of that situation. Fortunately nothing became a projectile but I know it is a possibility."
Lane said there were other people that were not in personal protective equipment, doing things without communication and arbitrarily doing things that they thought needed to happen.
"This interfered with our operations," Lane said. "That could have been potentially major problems. Turned out they weren't."
Lane continued, "I didn't want to be kicking people out because we needed the help but at the same time when I got there, people need to understand that we are trained and prepared to do it more safely than the general public."
At one point in the incident, responders ran out of bottled water. Lane explained they had a pallet of water stored at Station 2 but there was nothing there. Instead civilians went to the store and brought water from home for responders.
"The community came together incredibly," Lane said. "The love in this community, that was one of the things that drew me here. [Even when there is such turmoil] when it hit the fan the community came together. I really appreciate that."
Outside of the drinking water shortage, Lane felt everything went well and thought everyone did an excellent job.
"The community did beyond what I would expect. Our cooperators did everything that was expected and maybe more. I know everybody went right to work and did what was expected and that is how we held it to two homes. It was a total loss. There was nothing we could do with the winds blowing the way they were. It was a sad situation. I'm just thankful no one was hurt, people listened to each other. There was a potential to really lose a neighborhood. We were fortunate. By people coming together to do those little things for us it saved lives. Fortunately no one was injured, no firefighters were injured."
"From my experience, unless the [engine] had been parked at the end of the driveway and been fully flaked and ready to go, nobody would have stopped that fire, period. It grew so quick and so fast," Riel said. "There is no way on this green earth that you would have had enough water and resources quick enough to have stopped what happened. It was a sad event but at least no lives lost. That is the best measure we've got."
Ways to Donate to the Victims
• To donate cash or checks:
- For Kevin Kelley and his girlfriend Stacie Ledford cash and checks are being accepted through Faith Chapel. Please make checks out to Faith Chapel and either include a note or indicate on the check it is for Kevin and Stacie. This can be dropped off at the church, north of the Community Hall on Highway 83, in the lock box mounted on the north end of the building in the upper parking lot by the back door or mailed to Faith Chapel, Box 243, Seeley Lake, MT 59868.
- For the Braulik family, cash and checks are being accepted at Citizens Alliance Bank. Make checks out to Karmen Braulik or Ryan Braulik with nothing in the memo and it will be deposited in their account. Donations can be dropped off or mailed to Citizens Alliance Bank, Box 720, Seeley Lake, MT 59868.
• Via Go Fund Me online - There are three separate accounts.
- Braulik family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-brauliks?qid=503403a8a69dc45b7c54bc20cdf92ec4&fbclid=IwAR30zg0M4c1WQTiUDBBgT_L1bpkU5pjX7MX-tvMsnbPF8BfQPIivibgIdTc
- Stacie Ledford: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-stacie-rebuild-her-life?qid=8143e506ce7ba717480d6e32d6d483ac&fbclid=IwAR3c3hyVUX5FGlix27OPKePsKxT1vc0UKyGlaLLeaS5dSJbAKwKadEBmAo0
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