Bigfork man saved from fiery crash

A Bigfork man survived a fiery crash last week on Montana 83 thanks to the effort of a few good Samaritans.

According to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper David Mills, the 65-year-old Bigfork resident was driving north around Swan Lake on the evening of March 20 when his 1998 Chevy pickup drifted off the right side of the road for unknown reasons. The pickup hit and uprooted a large tree at mile marker 77, rolled onto its roof and caught fire, Mills said.

Mills said four passers-by stopped to help. Three of the people pulled the man from the pickup, while the fourth person grabbed a fire extinguisher.

“The truck was on fire when they literally had to yank him out,” Mills said.

Mills said the man’s clothing was still on fire when he emerged from the vehicle, so the group dragged the man to a snow pile and used snow to put out the flames.

The man was flown by the ALERT air ambulance to Kalispell Regional Medical Center before being transported to a hospital in Seattle. Mills said the man suffered serious injuries from the crash and fire.