Orcas Fire and San Juan County Sheriff units responded to Bracken Fern and Terrill Beach Road at 12:20 p.m. on Saturday, May 29 for a reported vehicle fire.

Volunteer Lieutenant Dave Mowrey was working at Country Corner grocery and heard the explosion. What he found in the driveway of 23 Bracken Fern was a 1982 Pace Arrow motorhome with its windows blown out and a huge hole in its side. Propane from an uncapped refrigerator pipe filled the vehicle with propane, and the explosion occurred when it found an ignition source in the newly ignited water heater.

The owner had just turned on the propane for the first time this year and lit the water heater. He was inside his residence when the explosion occurred.

Lt. Mowrey turned off the propane tank and began extinguishing the fire before the first Fire Rescue unit arrived.

“Based on the initial information, we had a very robust response from 15 of our firefighters,” said Division Fire Chief Patrick Shepler. “Motorhome fires are extremely dangerous, especially when they threaten other nearby structures. In this case, the quick actions of Lt. Mowrey allowed us to bring the situation under control very quickly.”