By JIM LARSEN

News-Times editor

Chris Garden is a sheriff’s deputy, volunteer firefighter and EMT. So he’s used to responding to emergencies. But when he responded to one this week, he found it was his own house that was going up in flames.

On Thursday, Garden was still sifting through the ashes of the Tuesday night blaze that destroyed the double-wide mobile home he was living in with his wife Melissa and three daughters, 14-year-old Kayla, Hailey, 6, and Annabella, 2.

“It was in really good shape,” Garden said as his sad eyes assessed the damage. Most of the structure was a pile of ashes, excepted for a drywalled area that was charred but still standing.

Garden said he and Melissa purchased 10 acres on LaJuanna Lane, off E. Crescent Road. Their long-range plans was to build a home there, but “Melissa couldn’t wait,” he said. So two years ago they placed a used double-wide on the land and started living there. Since then, Garden has spent what little spare time he has installing new floors, carpets, windows and appliances. “We re-did everything in the whole interior,” he said.

Garden was a single dad last week as his wife went to spend some time with her mother. Her mother was very ill, so the two decided to spend some time together on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

Early Thursday evening, Garden took the girls to Oak Harbor for a church youth group gathering. He visited a friend who is a firefighter, and his pager reported a “garden shed” fire on the road where Garden lives. He quickly arranged to have his children looked after while he drove to the scene. He’s a volunteer with the Oak Harbor Fire Dept., as well as an EMT for Whidbey General Hospital.

“I turned into the road and there was the fire — and it was our house,” Garden said, groaning at the memory. NAS Whidbey firefighters were on the scene as well as Fire District 2. But he could see by the flames that the home would be a total loss.

Everything the family owned was destroyed. Melissa, an amateur photographer, had taken pictures of the kids almost every day of their lives, Garden said. Gone were clothes, toys, family mementos, furniture, and all those little things that make a home. Garden lost his .45 caliber Sigsauer gun, his deputy’s badge, and a 15-year collection of police and firefighter uniforms. He was particularly saddened that his oldest daughter lost some 250 Breyer horses, a collection worth an estimated $6,000. “She cried all night long in her bed,” he said. Only some important documents in a small, fire-proof box escaped destruction.

While Garden didn’t mind recounting the damage, he was actually counting his blessings. His family was safe and an outpouring of community support had overwhelmed him. A family brought a roomy fifth-wheel trailer to the site to give his family a place to live. Volunteers hooked up electricity and sewer lines. Another family gave them a new washer and dryer. Stores donated toys and clothing, church groups brought food, firefighters passed the hat and gave him a “large sum of cash,” the Red Cross, as always, was there to help. The offers of help were still coming in two days after the blaze.

“People have been really good,” Garden said. “It’s really amazing.” He had a limited amount of insurance on the mobile home and its contents.

Garden was still shocked that his house could have burned. “I’m anal retentive about fire hazards,” he said. When he and his girls left the house all the doors were locked, all the lights were out and all the appliances were off.

Rick Norrie, a sheriff’s deputy who lives across the lane, was the first on the scene. Garden said his friend found the front door open, but that could have been because the glass in the sliding door fell out when the vinyl frame melted. Norrie was afraid the Gardens were home, so he crawled into the burning structure. He was scratched on the face by a falling object and had to retreat from the severe heat. All were relieved that no one was home.

The fire may have started in the laundry/utility room, Garden said. A charred fuse box raises his suspicions, but he can’t be sure the fire stared there. Nor could he rule out arson because of the open front door mystery. As of Thursday a fire inspector had not yet investigated.

Garden has one more problem to deal with. Melissa doesn’t know about the fire. He said he tried to call her that night, but couldn’t get through to the ship in the Caribbean. Later, friends advised him not to tell her, so as not to interfere with the time she is spending with her ill mother.

Melissa gets home tomorrow. “We’ve got to go through all this again on Sunday,” Garden said.