Cda Couple’S Vacation Ends In Flames Blaze Breaks Out As Couple Nears Home After A Monthlong Trip

A Coeur d’Alene couple’s cross-country vacation ended in smoke and flames Tuesday when their motor home caught fire less than 20 miles from home.

Don and Anna McConnell and their three dogs, who were returning from a monthlong trip to Missouri and Minnesota, escaped from the burning vehicle unharmed. The couple was traveling west on Highway 90 over Fourth of July Pass at about 2:30 p.m. when the McConnells heard a pop and saw smoke billowing from the engine.

“I just got my dogs and my purse out,” Anna McConnell said.

Jack Peters, a builder returning from business in Osburn, said the motor home was smoldering when he arrived. Peters used his cellular phone to call the fire department and also called the couple’s insurance agency for them.

“I would expect anybody to do that that could,” Peters said. “I’m just glad they got out with their dogs.”

Peters, who said he used to be on the fire department in Ashland, Ore., tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher from his car. But it didn’t work.

“It melted down to the axle,” Peters said. “I’m just glad they’re OK.”

Westbound traffic was reduced to one lane as firefighters used axes and hoses to put out the flames.

The Idaho State Police were called out to help the Shoshone County Fire District in case the dry brush surrounding the vehicle caught fire, Fire Chief Dale Costa said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The McConnells were pulling their car in a trailer behind the motor home. Neither the car nor the trailer was damaged. But the retired couple lost much of their clothing, food and other belongings in the blaze, Anna McConnell said.

“We just want to thank everybody who stopped and gave water to the dogs and said prayers,” she said.