A bizarre, shocking house fire

I am just broken up right now. 

It's just after 8 o'clock on Halloween night, and the Goodwin house in Brooten is on fire. The Belgrade and Brooten departments are hitting it with everything they have. The wind on this side of town is gusting over 50 miles an hour. The wind is violent.

*Next morning thoughts:

The initial "explosion" that started it took place at about 7:45 p.m., and maybe a minute or two before that. This explosion was by the act of a power line being separated from the transformer due to the extreme wind. I don't know if it hit another line to "arc" and cause an explosion, but an explosion happened that was seen from two full blocks to the south. The power in town "flickered" twice before that. Earlier, shortly after 7 o'clock, the power went out on the west side of Brooten for about five seconds before coming back on.

• Based on everything seen tonight, the fire was caused by a downed power line. A power line fell along School Avenue on the northwest side of the Goodwin house. When the line hit the ground, it blew out sod and grass in a jagged line from the curb up to the landscaping rock along the garage. It was pretty wild to see it. You'd have to see it to believe it.

• The wind tossed the line across the house, and when that happened, it had to have been red hot. It didn't take much for the red-hot power line to start the roof shingles on fire. I can only imagine how hot it was (an electrician may be able to guess). The fire across the roof was extensive and difficult to put out. The fire fighters worked tirelessly across the better part of the 8 o'clock hour to extinguish the fire.

• We know this was not an interior electrical fire. Inside the house, everything was calm just as all hell was breaking loose on the exterior of the house.

Did I mention that the wind is violent? Yeah, I did, and I'm saying it again. It is a dangerous, dangerous wind. And the night's not over. Winds are gusting as high as 55 miles an hour.

Here's video taken shortly after 20:00 tonight; during this video, you can see a Belgrade fire department truck rolling out fire hose down School Avenue. 

Here's another video taken about 10 minutes later:

As of 20:50, it appears that the fire is finally under control. It was an extremely dangerous situation, with the power line on the back side of the house still being live an hour and a half after the initial 911 call was placed. The power line was absolutely deadly. We are extremely fortunate that the fire and police departments responded as fast as they did to prevent anyone from getting in harm's way. Just prior to this unreal event, Brooten was crawling with kids enjoying trick-or-treating. (And I bet there were some kids still trick-or-treating when the 911 call was placed.)

Their roof has two holes in it where fire was put out. Firefighters punched a hole under the roof line on the south side of the house.

Thankfully, Brad and Amy were unharmed. THANK GOD.  They have been doing some form of home remodeling for at least the past 5 years. Their house was absolutely beautiful. The Goodwins have lived in Brooten for over 35 years. As I recall, Brad moved here in 1984, and Amy a year later. He began as a P.E. and health teacher (and coach) at Brooten high school, and she began as a Home Economics teacher. They are two of the most beloved members of our community. They are truly wonderful people. If you don't know them, you are missing out. They're the kind of people who make everyone around them better. Their four children graduated from B-B-E between the years of 2008 and 2014. It would take at least a day and a half to write about everything that the four Goodwin kids contributed to B-B-E schools.

Fun side note: the 1987 Brooten school yearbook is dedicated to Brad and Amy.

Please pray for them.

*New video posted on Sunday in a new blog post. Additional coverage will follow in the November 5, 2020 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.