Dixon trailer fire rattles residents

DIXON — A trailer fire in Dixon raged out of control for about an hour on Friday afternoon, right across the street from the Dixon Fire Hall, claiming the lives of several of the resident’s pets and leaving the town befuddled over the lack of response.

At around 1:45 p.m., Dixon resident Chuck Theis heard a loud noise across the street and checked it out.

“I thought I heard a car door slamming,” Theis said. “I looked over and there was smoke just billowing out of their chimney. I walked closer to the house and it was obvious, the whole living room was full of smoke.”

Theis made a call to 911 and waited as a crowd gathered, seeing the smoke continue to fill up the house.

“Ten minutes went by, 20 minutes went by,” Theis said. “I called them again, my mom called them again, people were stopping. There were no flames yet, but there was smoke.”

While eight people constitute the volunteer fire department in Dixon, seven were out of town, according to Cindy Hill, the only one of the volunteers on scene. Hill, an EMT with the fire hall, was left to answer questions from Dixon residents as to how this happened.

“Community members have been yelling at me, but it’s volunteer — get involved,” Hill said. “I wish more people would join. We get nothing out of this except being able to help people and the hardest part is getting people to join. We do this out of the goodness of our hearts.”

By the time a truck from Trout Creek made it to the scene, the house was about halfway engulfed, according to Theis, and the flames were so big, he was worried about his home catching fire.

“If I’d have had the keys to the fire hall, I could have put the fire out,” Theis said. “We all sat here and watched the house burn down. It was just insane — terrible.”

Mutual assistance from Ronan and Charlo arrived around 2:20 p.m., at which time roughly three-quarters of the trailer was lost. St. Ignatius was en route to help out as well before being called away to tend to a fire on St. Mary’s Lake Road.

“Charlo and Ronan showed up, but it was too late by then,” Theis said.

Hill said that the members of the volunteer fire department are always on call, but are sometimes tied down by commitments such as work. At the time of the fire, three were as far away as Helena for a class while others were in Missoula and Polson for work. Hill praised the surrounding towns that provide mutual assistance when necessary for responding when they got the call.

“They’re always awesome at backing us up,” Hill said. “They’re really good.”

Hill stated that the assistance is rarely required in such a small town, where they see maybe one fire a year, but the delayed response left Theis concerned.

“We’re in shock,” Theis said. “I hope to God it never happens to us.”

At least one dog and one cat survived the fire and three dogs and two cats remain missing, but at least two exotic birds and numerous cats and dogs perished. It’s believed the owner of the trailer, Rebecca Robbins, left an electric heater on for her birds and one of the animals may have knocked it over. The heater was an older model which didn’t automatically shut itself off after being tipped over and, while the heat was turned down, it was the most likely cause of the fire.

Dixon residents have reached out to Robbins to help her in any way possible. Gambles Hardware in St. Ignatius is accepting food, furniture and clothing donations on Robbins’ behalf. If you’d like to donate money, the Missoula Federal Credit Union is accepting donations under the name Rebecca Robbins.