This Ford Explorer caught fire while Anita Frank was driving to her Jackson Lake home on Sunday, May 5, 2013. The Hovland Fire Department responded, but the vehicle was a total loss by the time they had been notified and were able to respond. Because of road conditions, a tow truck was not able to get to the car so contractor Doug Seim transported the car out with a forklift to the Arrowhead Trail to be picked up by Wally’s Towing.
Spring was a bit rough for Anita and Tom Frank of Hovland. After being stranded in their remote Jackson Lake home because of snow conditions, their vehicle caught fire on the first trip out of the woods on May 5, 2013.
Reached by phone after the incident, Anita Frank explained that she and her family were snowed in for 22 days. Frank said they had plowed their road through the season, but as more and more snow fell, the driveway became narrower and narrower, eventually becoming impassable by car. Then their snowmobile quit working. Since it was near the end of the season, they decided to wait on the repair—only to get several more feet of snow.
The Franks were well stocked and managed to get through the situation. Anita said, “We rationed our butter and ice cream.”
When the driveway and Jackson Lake Road appeared to be thawed enough to venture out, Anita traveled out to the Arrowhead Trail, down to Highway 61 and up to Grand Portage to purchase groceries. She made it out okay; however, on the trip back, disaster struck. About a half mile in on the Jackson Lake Road Anita said the road was “really rutted” and she got stuck in her Ford Explorer.
Anita worked to free the vehicle by revving and trying to rock the vehicle. After a few times, she noticed smoke rolling out from under the hood. She got out of the car and was alarmed to see fire under the front wheel.
Anita kicked and tossed snow onto the fire, but it did not reduce the flames. She quickly got her mail and dog out of the vehicle and grabbed a shovel, vigorously tossing snow to dampen the fire. However, the fire only grew. She helplessly watched as the car became engulfed in flames, burning quickly and fiercely, catching a couple of trees on the side of the road on fire.
She headed back down Jackson Lake Road to the Arrowhead Trail to the Hovland Post Office— approximately five miles— to call for help.
The Hovland Fire Department was paged at 3:05 p.m. and responded to the scene with four firefighters, a full-sized fire engine and a smaller brush rig used for wildland fires. Hovland Assistant Fire Chief Terry Spieker said by the time the fire department had been notified and arrived, there was little for them to do. “The fire had pretty much burned itself out,” Spieker said.
Because of the poor road conditions, the Hovland Fire Department was not able to take the engine in to the fire scene, but took the smaller brush rig in to cool the engine of the burned vehicle down and to ensure that the trees in the area were extinguished.
A tow truck was called but was unable to make it down the road to retrieve the burned vehicle. Contractor Doug Seim, who built the Franks’ cabin, came to their aid. He used a forklift to haul the Explorer out to the Arrowhead Trail where it could be towed by Wally’s Towing.
Anita Frank said she was sad that her car had burned up. “It was my favorite car,” she said but quickly added, “I’m okay and my dog was okay. It could have been worse.”
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