Disaster averted after fire torches an apartment at Cedar Park Homes

Disaster – or rather multiple disasters – were narrowly averted even as an apartment unit at Cedar Park Homes was destroyed by fire Wednesday morning. 

It was at 10:04 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2 when Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Emergency Dispatch notified that a structure fire was in progress at Cedar Park Homes, and within the span of 2 to 3 minutes the blaze at Unit 221 was already moving up the side of the building, which contains a pair of two-story units that have a common attic space.

This, said Anaconda Fire Department Captain Jason McElroy, could have spelled disaster as "if it [the fire] gets into the attic, it can burn the whole building down."

"The crew fought it aggressively," McElroy said in an interview Wednesday evening. "The fire started on the bottom floor and we were able to contain it. That's a huge win. The guys kicked butt today."

Disaster was averted even before that, as the resident – who escaped with assistance from ADLC Police Officer Marc Arment, who as the officer covering the Anaconda Housing Authority was the first responder to the scene – had been asleep at the time the fire started.

"He said he was sleeping on the couch, woke up and the next thing he knew the room was on fire," McElroy said. "He had a very close call."

The resident was transported to Community Hospital of Anaconda for burns and smoke inhalation, McElroy said.

The cause of the fire was found to have been a dropped cigarette, and not by the resident, McElroy said, but rather a guest or visitor. Not only is smoking not permitted in Housing Authority buildings, at this particular unit it was posted that oxygen is in use, making smoking that much more dangerous.

"Someone had been there, not the resident, who had a cigarette and dropped it. The whole place was saturated in oxygen," McElroy said. "That's why it grew so quickly."

Matters were complicated further in combating the blaze by the age and condition of the two fire hydrants at the Cedar Park Homes complex, one of which was from 1980 and the other from 1952. It took several responders and passers-by alike all pitching in to open one of the hydrants up, McElroy said.

"It's a big obstacle to overcome, but I'm thankful people pitched in," he said.

While the water line replacement projects in Anaconda in recent years have included new hydrants, the hydrants at Cedar Park don't actually belong to the city and so haven't been replaced, McElroy said, but he said the fire department would be working with the Housing Authority to address that, which Kaitlin Leary, the Housing Authority's director, confirmed.

"I will be working with the fire department on the fire hydrant issue," Leary said. 

Leary also confirmed that the unit is now uninhabitable and would remain so "for the foreseeable future," that other housing would be found for the resident and that they were assessing the neighboring unit as to how long it would have to remain unoccupied. The residents of that neighboring unit have been relocated to another unit as well. 

"We're sad about the situation, but we're working to get things back up and going and keeping everyone safe," Leary said.

This was the second fire at Cedar Park this year, though the first wasn't in a residence but rather at the smokers shack in March, McElroy said. It's also the eighth working structure fire the fire department has responded to this year, he said. In addition to the Anaconda Fire Department and ADLC Law Enforcement, the West Valley Volunteer Fire Department and NorthWestern Energy were dispatched to the scene. 

"Everyone did a tremendous job. That's one of our high-risk situations," McElroy said. "The guys got there quick, they got water on it quick. I'm very proud of them."