Firefighters responded to two structure fires in Great Falls on Saturday, March 22, 2025. There were no reported injuries in either fire.
The agency said in a news release that the first was a house fire at 2736 Carmel Drive; GFFR was notified at 3:26 p.m.
Engine 4 arrived to find a fire on the outside of the house extending up the house toward the roof. The occupants were out of the house with their pets.
GFFR crews quickly extinguished the fire and kept it from getting into the interior of the house.
The northeast corner of the house suffered heavy damage from the fire, and the garage sustained minor fire damage. The occupants are not displaced and are able to stay in the house.
GFFR was able to obtain video footage from some of the neighbors. The video showed the fire starting in the area of the occupant’s garbage cans. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
The second fire was reported at 4:17 pm at an apartment on 2208 23rd Street South.
The occupants of the apartment came home from grocery shopping. When they entered the apartment, they placed their groceries on the stove top which they did not realize had been left on. With the stove being left on, the grocery bags caught on fire and extended to the cabinets.
The occupants of the apartment were able to extinguish the fire and call 911. As GFFR crews were at the fire on Carmel Drive, a crew from the Malmstrom Air Force Base Fire Department was dispatched to investigate the fire.
As the fire at Carmel Drive was now under control, the GFFR battalion chief cleared Engine 3 and sent them to assist the Malmstrom crew. As the fire had extended from the stove top to the cabinets, the Malmstrom crew along with Engine 3 pulled the damaged cabinets and verified that the fire had not extended to the walls or the kitchen hood vent.
The occupants were unharmed and have been placed in a hotel.
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