Woman nearly burned in camper, car fire Sunday

An elderly Columbia Falls woman was nearly burned in a fire early Sunday morning in Columbia Falls. Columbia Falls firefighters responded to a call of a camper on fire on 12th Avenue West about 4:46 a.m., Columbia Falls Fire Chief Rick Hagen said.

Hagen said when firefighters arrived a 1975 pull camper was fully involved. An elderly woman, who had apparently fallen asleep in a car next to the camper, was awoken when the heat from the camper fire caught the car on fire and exploded out the passenger side window of the car. The woman was able to start the car and back it away from the camper. Columbia Falls Police, who arrived just before the firefighters, put the car fire out.

Police didn’t realize the car was occupied until the woman got out of the car. 

The camper was a total loss. The woman was taken to the hospital for minor injuries and later released.

Firefighters aren’t sure what caused the camper fire. There was no power to the unoccupied camper and no batteries hooked up, either, Hagen said.

Propane tanks that fed the camper’s stove caught on fire, but vented properly and did not cause any explosions.

Police Chief Dave Perry later said the woman had been living in the camper and police told her she had to move it just a couple of days before the fire, as she couldn’t legally live there.