 Blaze chars holiday
12/25/2004 - By Mila
Koumpilova and Matthew Von Pinnon Forum staff writers
Shortly after noon on a hushed and bitterly cold Christmas Eve, an
uncanny sense of order ruled before one of the three-story Skaff
Apartments buildings in south Moorhead.
With armfuls of clothes, small appliances and plastic bags packed with
colorfully wrapped presents, a half dozen residents displaced by fire
early Friday morning quietly filed back and forth between the 18-unit
complex’s front door and their vehicles, bending to duck beneath the
yellow police tape stretched across the entrance.
The orderliness belied the chaotic scene that unfolded 11 hours
earlier.
A three-alarm blaze called in at 1:15 a.m. at 1114 27th Ave. S. heavily
damaged four apartments, and to some degree damaged a dozen others with
smoke and water, fire officials said.
Nobody was injured in the fire, which was caused by an unattended
candle, according to Moorhead Fire Marshal Rich Duysen.
The temperature at the start of the blaze was 12 degrees below zero,
with a 25-below wind chill.
The fire displaced 30 people in the buildup to the holidays and
consumed the Christmas gifts of several children.
As apartment residents collected their belongings Friday afternoon,
several also sorted through memories of their overnight ordeal.
Thirty-five-year-old David Kidwell, a resident of the third floor,
where the fire apparently started, awoke to the beeping of a fire alarm
and the shuffling of anxious footsteps in the hallway.
As he stepped into the hall, Kidwell saw a neighbor kick open the door
of an adjacent apartment, where the alarm noise was coming from. A second
later, they were enveloped in a cloud of thick smoke.
Kidwell ran out into the street with his wife and 6-yearold son.
“I didn’t have a jacket on,” he said, lingering Friday in the
front yard after having stacked belongings in his Honda. “My son was in
his pajamas.”
Ellie Nettestad, 23, a secondfloor resident, was awakened by insistent
barking. “My dog was running around like crazy,” she said. She heard
the beeping of fire alarms, grabbed her jacket, keys and dog and --
thankful her 5-yearold son was visiting with her parents in Pelican
Rapids, Minn. -- joined the crowd of a dozen or so frazzled residents
standing in front of the building.
“We didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “Nobody was
telling us if it was getting better or worse.”
Eight firefighters initially showed up at the building, but about 15
more on-call firefighters, including a half dozen from Fargo, were
dispatched to the scene within a half-hour of the initial call, said
Moorhead Fire Department Lt. Mike Saulsbury.
“We could see and smell smoke once we got about 10 blocks from the
station,” said Saulsbury, referring to fire headquarters at 1120 1st
Ave. N., more than two miles away.
Volunteers from the Salvation Army and Red Cross quickly helped
firefighters and those displaced by providing warm vehicles, hot drinks,
food, clothing and bedding.
Saulsbury said four units were heavily damaged or destroyed by fire and
several others likely received smoke and water damage.
Kidwell, the third-floor resident, said his apartment suffered smoke
damage, and most of the furniture was covered in black soot that would not
come off.
Skaff Apartments provided hotel rooms for those who wanted them at the
nearby Courtyard by Marriott. Others stayed with family or friends in the
area.
Dawn Decausmeaker, Skaff ’s assistant property manager, said 10 or 15
of the apartment building’s tenants were out of town when the fire
occurred, but all of them were notified.
At the back of the building, broken window panes and sliding balcony
doors revealed the blackened, bare interiors of the damaged second- and
third-floor units. A hole gaped in the side of the roofing. The frost had
sculpted icicles hanging from the balconies and traced cheery patterns on
nearby windows.
As a contrast to the bleak apartment building scene, the Skaff
Apartments office at 1130 28th Ave. S. offered a glimpse into the spirit
of the holidays.
Lisa Roth, daughter of apartment complex owner Sam Skaff, showed off
trays of cookies, piles of neatly folded clothing and a collection of toys
for the five children ages 1 to 15 who lost their presents -- all donated
by area residents that morning.
“People have been hearing about it on the radio and stopping by,”
she said. Skaff
managers were planning a Christmas dinner for the displaced families.
Skaff also set up a fire fund at all Fargo-Moorhead State Bank and
Trust locations for those wishing to donate money to the victims.
Firefighters and Moorhead Wal-Mart workers, touched by the story of one
6-year-old victim devastated over losing a DVD player to the blaze,
collected enough money to purchase a new one and give it to him early
Friday morning in his hotel room, said Courtney Gaa, who works at the
Marriott.
“This really is what the Christmas season is all about, caring for
and helping the people who need it most,” she said. Readers can reach
reporter Mila Koumpilova at (701) 241-5529 and North Dakota Regional
Editor Matthew Von Pinnon at (701) 241-5505
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