Four were injured in a fish house fire on New Year’s Day on Upper Red Lake.
Beltrami County Sheriff Ernie Beitel reports that the call came in the early afternoon of a propane tank exploding within the fish house.
The four injured occupants of the fish house, two men and two women, were taken to a nearby resort with two air ambulances dispatched to the Waskish Airport.
By the time deputies arrived, two of the injured people were already transported to the airport, but the other two said they were using 20-pound propane tanks and a heater when a hissing sound began.
The victims described a large fireball filling the fish house after they closed the valves on the tank.
The fish house was about two and a half miles from shore on the northeast side of Upper Red.
The structure was damaged with a partially melted and burned exterior, but the two tanks inside appeared intact.
The extent of the four people’s injuries was not disclosed.
Bemidji Ambulance, Sanford AirMed, Blackduck Ambulance, Kelliher Fire, Kelliher First Responders, the Minnesota DNR and bystanders assisted at the scene.
