Plains residence destroyed by fire

Melissa Oyer

Valley Press

Fire broke out at the home of Marie Barber and O’Burt Lofthus Wednesday. The trailer was engulfed in flames by the time Plains/ Paradise Rural Fire Department arrived to 701 First Avenue in Plains.

A 911 call was made by Ellen Fink, a neighbor, at approximately 4:50 p.m. Wednesday and firefighters responded within 9 minutes.

Responders arrived with five trucks and one pumper truck and immediately began spraying a foam substance to control the spread of the fire. Firefighters were breaking the glass from windows to release the smoke and help fumigate the structure.

The owners were in the house when the fire started but were able to make it out and across the street to a neighbor’s house.

Butler broke her femur about a month ago and is now using a walker. “I don’t know how she made it out but she did,” daughter-in-law Shannon Allen said.

Butler recalls her 9-year-old Labrador Cocoa ran out of the house behind her but when firefighters were clearing the house, they found Cocoa trapped in the bedroom. Cocoa suffered smoke inhalation and passed away.

Assistant Fire Chief Lee Mercier was among several of the firefighters that wore the Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus to go into the house. Crews worked on every side of the structure to contain the fire. Flames had fully spread to the roof of the house and by the time firefighters were able to tear apart the outer paneling, the whole trailer was gutted.

Butler’s car was parked in the driveway and before firefighters arrived, her grandson, Jake Kulawinski attached chains to the back of a pickup truck and pulled her car down the street to make way for the firetrucks.

Several neighbors, friends and family members were also hurrying to clear out anything they could from the garage apartment that is adjacent to Butler’s trailer. Mary McChristian rents the apartment and was among the crowd of people scrambling to carry things out. 

Firefighters are still working to determine what caused the fire. Butler told her daughter, Debbie Kulawinski, that she plugged in a heater and then went into the back of the house to lay down.

Butler and her family were advised by fire department to call the American Red Cross to receive support. The Red Cross provides assistance to families who are faced with disaster or tragedy such as this.

Donations can be made to the Friends of Marie and Burt benefit account at First Security Bank in Plains.