Young family loses house, possessions in Cataldo fire

CATALDO — The day after his 30th birthday and just days before Christmas, Kevin Boultinghouse stood in the snow and despondently stared into the charred building that was his Cataldo home.

A blackened string of Christmas lights limply dangled from the roof. On the front porch, a child's singed rocking horse leaned against a barbecue grill draped with a burned cover.

Fire still raged in the bathroom wall Tuesday afternoon, while smoke continued billowing from parts of the roof.

"At the moment, I haven't even had a chance to process it yet, it's just a shock still," Boultinghouse said. "It's a pretty bad deal. You never expect something like that, you know. There was nothing we could do."

Boultinghouse, his wife, Amanda, and their 2-year-old daughter, Layla, barely escaped the blaze that consumed their home early Tuesday morning. Kevin had fallen asleep on the couch Monday night. Amanda, 30, and Layla were snuggled in Amanda and Kevin's bed. Kevin, a normally deep sleeper, randomly woke around 2 a.m. and discovered smoke in the air and flames at the wood stove.

"There's a small area where (the flames) went through a closet and caught my daughter's clothes on fire," Kevin said. "My first reaction was to get everybody out."

Kevin was successful in getting his wife, daughter and all of their pets to safety, but when he attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher, it was too late. Their house was overtaken by flames.

Everything the Boultinghouses owned was in that East Canyon Road home, where they have lived since March. Kevin said only his work tools and their cooped chickens were untouched. Gone now are family photos, clothing, dishes, toys, furniture, "all the presents under the tree, everything."

"The only thing we had on was the clothes on our backs," Kevin said. "We lost everything."

Shoshone County Fire Protection District No. 2 quickly responded to Kevin's 911 call, but because flames jumped from the stove into the wall and ceiling and spread into the attic and throughout the 1,224 square-foot house, firefighters couldn't save it.

"It’s definitely a total loss," said Shoshone Fire District 2 Chief Mark Aamodt. "If we get much more snow load, this roof’s going to collapse. The roof assembly’s in pretty bad shape."

Aamodt said the Boultinghouses were fortunate that Kevin woke up when he did "because he didn’t have any smoke detectors. He had a carbon monoxide detector but that’s not what woke him up. He just happened to wake up at the right time. Smoke detectors are so important, too. It may have given him a little bit earlier notice."

Aamodt said he was unsure exactly what caused the fire to escape the piping because he hadn't had a chance to spend time in the building because of its dangerous condition. He said incidents such as the Boultinghouses losing their home do weigh heavy on the hearts of first responders, "especially so close to Christmas." It was one of his firefighters who grabbed the rocking horse from Layla's room before it was engulfed.

"He reached in (the window) and pulled it out," Aamodt said. "This is pretty much going to be a tear down and start over. They’ve lost everything in this."

Kevin said although the deed to the house is under his name, the loan and insurance are still under the name of his friend who sold them the home, which could make things event more difficult while sorting things out.

"With the loan and the insurance, I don’t know what they’re going to do," Kevin said. "I’m hoping we’re able to rebuild, but who knows? I could do it for cheap, I’m a builder, but they normally don't like to have the homeowners themselves do it."

Aamodt said winter fires are not uncommon; heating is a primary cause of a lot of cold-weather fires, as well as overloaded appliances and frayed cords.

"Any time with wood heat, people need to be mindful and make sure they maintain the whole system — the stove, the stovepipe, make sure that they’re cleaned and taken care of," he said. "Just all around fire safety for the winter season."

The Boultinghouse family is staying with Amanda's dad in Kellogg while they recover and figure out their next steps. Kevin's cousin, Jami Freitas, started a fundraising campaign "to help Santa find Layla at her temporary shelter and to assist the family with immediate essentials (socks, shoes, jackets, soap, you name it, etc.)." To donate or help, visit www.youcaring.com/kevin-and-amanda-boultinghouse-491293.