MISSOULA – Officials are investigating to determine if there will be any criminal charges associated with an explosion that destroyed a trailer home in Missoula early Tuesday.
The Missoula Rural Fire District and Missoula County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the reports of an explosion on Big Flat Road at the Wagon Wheel Trailer Park.
When officials arrived shortly after 12:15 a.m., they found flames 35 feet in the air and all four walls of the trailer had been blown off the frame.
“It was a camper trailer that had started on fire. There was an explosion and two other camper trailers that were actually damaged,” Missoula County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Brenda Bassett said.
A person living in the trailer next to the fire had to leave her home and is currently staying with her daughter just down the street.
She said she was sleeping when she awoke to the sound of an explosion and a hard banging sound at the door.
When she opened the door, she told MTN News that the victim was there begging for help and pleading for water. She added that it appeared as if the victim’s hands were melted off.
“The individual was transported to the hospital with really very bad burns,” Bassett confirmed.
No other injuries occurred because of the fire and investigators have already determined what sparked the blaze.
“Our fire investigator with the Missoula County Sheriff’s office and the fire investigator with Rural Fire have determined both separately that there was a fire that started in the oven and then some butane lit on fire and then exploded,” Bassett said.
The Sheriff’s Office still investigating to determine if there will be any criminal charges filed in connection with the fire.
The woman who had to leave her trailer due to the fire said that physically she is fine and did not have to receive medical attention but that she was still a little shaken up.
