OR- By Barney Lerten, KTVZ – A propane leak caused a camp trailer at Paulina Lake Campground to explode and burn Wednesday evening, Deschutes County sheriff’s officers said. No one was in the trailer, and there were no injuries, they added.
A sheriff’s marine patrol deputy responded to the campground around 6 p.m. to investigate a possible explosion and fire in a camp trailer. People in a neighboring camp heard a loud hissing noise, then a loud explosion, said Sgt. Dan Swearingen.
Witnesses from the same camp quickly went to the scene and used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames, also shutting off the trailer’s propane tanks.
Camp trailer owners Gerald and Barbara Burtraw of LaPine were fishing on Paulina Lake at the time of the blast and fire, which left the 1983 17-foot Travel-Lite trailer a total loss, Swearingen said.
An investigation determined propane from an unknown source in the trailer was ignited by a pilot light in the water heater, he said. Investigators from the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office were investigating the source of the propane leak.
Swearingen reminded campers to be careful with propane appliances and to check for leaks prior to use.