Woman Narrowly Escapes RV Fire in Dallesport
Contributed photo. Pictured: The RV only moments after Luna helped the woman get to safety.
Dallesport, WA— An RV fire at Columbia Hills RV Park in Dallesport, Washington occurred at around 10:30 on the morning of January 14th, 2021.
Contributed Photo. Pictured: Tyler Luna towing vehicles away from the fire.
The resident of the RV, a middle-aged woman, was napping inside when the RV caught fire. She was woken up from her nap by the smoke. Neighbors who witnessed the incident say they first noticed something was wrong when they saw her laying on the ground calling for help next to the burning RV.
One neighbor grabbed a hose and started trying to put the fire out. Isela Luna, heard the woman calling and rushed over to help her get away from the fire. The woman had inhaled a lot of smoke and needed Luna’s help moving away from the burning RV. Luna then called an ambulance and then called her partner Tyler Luna, who was at work at The Dalles Iron Works.
“I told him he needed to get here now,” said Isela Luna.
Contributed Photo. Pictured: The Luna Family, Tyler Luna, Isela Luna, their child and two dogs.
Several cars and another nearby RV were dangerously close to also being destroyed in the fire. Luna said “I was asking does anybody have a hitch? We live in an RV park right? And nobody had one. So I called Tyler.” Within minutes, Tyler Luna arrived on the scene and asked for keys to begin moving three of the nearby cars to a safe distance from the fire. The keys for the vehicles were unfortunately inside the burning RV. Tyler didn’t hesitate, he began pulling the cars out of the way with his truck. But it was too late to prevent further damage to another RV which was parked close to the still burning one.
Luna also helped the woman whose RV was burning to call Michael Bates, the owner of the RV she was staying in, to tell him what was happening. Bates is the owner of both RV’s which were damaged in the fire.
Dallesport Fire and EMS arrived on the scene and began to put out the fire and attend to the woman who had narrowly escaped the RV fire.
Brad Swing of Dallesport Fire, which is a volunteer fire fighting organization, said the fire was likely started by a propane tank or maybe a plug-in heater, as they had localized the start of the fire to the front of the RV.
Contributed Photo.
Pictured: Dallesport Fire Crew works to put out the fire. Tyler Luna is pictured left. Luna left work in a hurry to come help his neighbors.
Pictured: The RV, still steaming and burning in places.
“It was burning to the ground when we got here, so the only thing we were able to do was to put it out. It was roaring, just a total loss,” said Swing.
The owner of Columbia Hills RV park, Dennis Eisleand, was also on the scene. He said that he’d seen the smoke from his house and had rushed over.
Pictured: The RV neighboring the one that burned also sustained significant damages.
“I got here probably five minutes after I saw the smoke. When I got here I told everybody to stay back, propane tanks can explode so I didn’t want anybody to get hurt.” Eisleand said that this was the second RV fire he’s seen in the past 25 years. “But unfortunately these RVs go up so fast. You’ve only got about five minutes to get out.”
Michael Bates arrived shortly after crews had put the fire out, in just under an hour the RV had gone from a home to something completely unrecognizable. “She called me first, from inside the trailer, panicking out, and I told her to get out of there but she evidently couldn’t. Not sure how she got out.” Bates said the two were good friends and then went to check on her to make sure she was okay.
Bates also said neither trailer was insured. Luna said she was helping Bates to start a Gofundme.
“This GoFundMe is not an attempt to completely replace everything, but to help ease some of the financial burden that comes with losing your home in a fire. The goal is to start at a modest $5000 to replace the necessities. Food, clothes, beds, etc,” reads the GoFundMe page started by Luna for Bates.
”If you are unable to donate, I ask that you share this fundraiser. There are so many RV groups & communities out there, I would love to spread the word to help him out as much as possible.”
Pictured: Dallesport Fire working to ensure the fire is out, pictured left a Dallesport Fireman uses a thermal reader to determine hot spots that may still catch fire.
