Illegal Fireworks Cause House Fire Bottle Rockets Land In Woodpile, Causing $70,000 Worth Of Damage

Sometime about 1 a.m., Michele Chestnut woke up and heard the noise.

A crackling, snapping, popping noise.

Her husband got up to check it out.

“He said, ‘Michele, our house is on fire,”’ she said.

The couple escaped unharmed, but its home and belongings at 4216 Canterbury Road sustained $70,000 worth of damage.

Illegal bottle rockets landed in the Chestnuts’ woodpile and started the blaze, according to Mike Budvarson, assistant Coeur d’Alene fire chief. He said firefighters collected numerous spent bottle rockets at the scene.

“We need to do some interviewing of the neighbors,” he said. “The whole neighborhood was having a party.”

Deputy state fire marshal Glenn Lauper said anyone starting a fire with illegal fireworks is in violation of criminal and civil laws.

“Criminally, you’re in violation of a county ordinance,” he said. “Civilly, you’re responsible for any damage that occurs, plus any fire suppression and investigation costs.”

Michele and her husband, Walter “Bud” Chestnut, had arrived home about 11:30 p.m., after watching the fireworks display over Coeur d’Alene’s City Beach. She said she got up shortly after midnight to shut a window because of many noisy fireworks going off in the neighborhood. Then she went back to sleep.

The fire, burning through the attic, didn’t set off any of the family’s three smoke detectors.

Seven firefighters in seven trucks battled the flames for more than an hour, Budvarson said. They cut holes in the roof and fought the fire through the attic. The kitchen and living room ceiling collapsed from the water.

Wednesday morning, family members helped carry furniture, clothing and appliances out onto the front lawn. Many items were covered with waterlogged insulation.

The family said it has fire insurance.

Michele Chestnut looked at the couple’s damaged possessions, spread out as if for a garage sale.

“They can be replaced,” she said. “As long as you have each other.”

It was among only two fireworks-caused house fires in the area over the weekend.

Fire districts throughout the Panhandle reported an unusually quiet weekend. The reason: the heavy rain that started off the weekend.

In Sagle, two juveniles playing with fireworks set a house on fire Wednesday. The blaze damaged part of the house’s second floor and took Sagle and Sandpoint firefighters several hours to extinguish.

Authorities said the youths were lighting fireworks and set a bush on fire near the house on Monarch Road.

Damage was estimated at $25,000.

Two Sagle firefighters were injured while fighting the blaze. Fire Chief Don Vuletic suffered heat exhaustion and Don Reed fell off a ladder. Both were treated and released from Bonner General Hospital.

In Sandpoint, local volunteers squelched a fireworks-caused blaze beside the Edgewater Resort Motor Inn.

“It could have been really bad,” said Sandpoint Fire Chief Don Keck.

Rathdrum had two fireworks fires, one of which burned a 100-foot-diameter circle in a field before residents stopped it using rakes and shovels.

“It was pretty close to a house,” said Rathdrum Fire Chief Wayne Nowacki. Both small fires started from smoke bombs, he said.

“Both fires were stupidity fires,” he said. “I was driving around last night, and it looked like World War III.”

At Kootenai Fire District No. 1, Deputy Chief Don McNett called it a quiet year. Normally, the district has six to 12 fireworks fires around the Fourth, he said. This year, there were none.

Hayden Lake Fire District Chief Wayne Syth said his crews spent the holiday driving around to check out reports of illegal fireworks.

“About the time we drive into a neighborhood in a fire unit, they all scatter,” he said. “It’s a deterrent, but you can put a lot of miles on a truck that way.”

At the Canterbury Road home, Michele Chestnut stood before the burned shell of the garage. A Honda sedan and Nissan pickup were inside, blackened and ruined.

“This morning, when we were taking all these things out, there were little kids still playing with bottle rockets,” she said. “Parents should take them to the (public) fireworks at the resort. This isn’t worth it.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo