Arson fire forces evacuation of Montana group home

Residents of a group home for mentally disabled adults were forced to spend Friday night at a hotel in Great Falls after one of the group home residents set a small fire in the building.

According to Great Falls Battalion Chief Bob Shupe, there were no injuries related to the fire, and the quick response of the staff at the Little Belts Group Home on 12th Ave. S. prevented the fire from spreading.

"The staff there recognized the fire almost immediately," Shupe said. "They evacuated the people and instructed someone else to call 911. Then they knocked the fire down with an extinguisher they had in the residence. When our guys got there they just went in and touched up the remaining hot spots and evacuated the smoke to minimize the damage."

Shupe said damage at the group home was limited to some curtains and an adjacent wall area. He estimated the total cost of the damage to be less than $800.

Shupe said the fire was reportedly set by one of the Little Belts Group Home residents.

"The guy that lit it fled the building," he said. "The staff said he had been angry during the day and kind of out-of-sorts. The police were able to locate him shortly after the fire department cleared the scene, and I'm not sure what happened from there."

Little Belts officials subsequently decided to remove the group home residents for the evening.

"Basically the company decided to take all the residents out of the home for the night and go to a local motel so they could clean up, and then bring them back tomorrow," Shupe said.

He added that the fire could have been much worse, especially with disabled residents still in their rooms when the fire broke out.

"I think the staff at the group home handled it very professionally," he said. "They followed their procedures, they called 911, they evacuated the residents and then the guy picked an extinguisher up and discharged it before he fled the home. It was a good thing for them to do."