Man loses home, dog in fire

There were no injuries in a fire late last Monday on River Road West in Plains that burnt a house completely to the ground. But house owner Louis Johnston not only lost his home, but everything in it, along with his dog and $5,000 cash.

Lee Mercier, the assistant chief for the Plains Paradise Rural Fire Department, said they received a call around 11:47 p.m. from a neighbor who had heard an explosion and saw the house on fire. Mercier said the call also said there were possibly two occupants in the house, but when the department arrived, Johnston was outside.

According to Louis Johnston's son, Rock Johnston, Louis was sleeping at the time of the fire when he was awakened by his dog. Rock said that Louis and his dog ran outside, before Louis remembered that he had left $5,000 in his freezer. He said Louis ran back inside and grabbed the metal box of money and was running outside when he was knocked over by an explosion.

Rock said when Louis was knocked over he dropped the cash on the porch, where it burned. The explosion also scared the dog and made him run under the porch, where it perished.

Mercier said that when they arrived at 1880 River Road West - about 16 and a half miles west of Plains - the house, a shed next to the house, and a 250-gallon propane tank were fully involved in flames. He said the propane tank was shooting out flames. “When we got there it was blowing flames 25 to 30 feet in the air,” he said.

It is still unclear if the propane tank caused the explosion, said Mercier, the incident commander at the fire. “We don't know what the explosion was,” he said. “We can't speculate at this point.” Mercier said the cause of the fire is still unknown. “We don't have any idea,” he said. The fire department will not be investigating the fire and any investigation will be up to Johnston's insurance carrier, according to Mercier.

Eleven firefighters from the rural department and eight firefighters from the Town of Plains Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire. Mercier said they responded in mutual aid because the house was actually in the Thompson Falls' rural district, but the only access to the property is through Plains. Plains Community Ambulance was also dispatched to the scene.

Mercier said that when they arrived at the scene, the roof had collapsed and it was apparent the house couldn't be saved, so the firefighters' main function was to keep the fire from spreading to any other structure. He said they also had to cool off the propane tank to keep it from exploding. He said the last firefighter cleared the scene at around 2:20 a.m. Mercier said that most structure fires occur in the middle of winter from chimney fires. “This is kind of a late blooming one here,” he said.

Rock said that Louis has been staying at the property in a trailer, also on the property. He said Louis had help cleaning up the property Saturday and should start building a new house in the next couple of weeks.