Fundraising campaign aims to help victims

In just one day, a fundraising campaign has raised nearly $4,000 for five family members who were burned after their boat exploded during a camping trip to Swan Lake over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Wagoner family had been fishing during a camping trip over the holiday weekend and was about to head back to camp on Saturday when an explosion lit “almost everyone on board on fire,” according to a post on the fundraising webpage established by Josiah Wagoner of Kalispell.

Wagoner’s post explained: “My brother (David Wagoner) was out fishing on Swan Lake with his wife (Kylie Wagoner), baby daughter (Addison), son (Treavor, 4), our nephew (Zeke Hilliard, 6), our twin sisters (Olivia and Priscilla Wagoner, 10) and our third oldest sister (Hadasa Wagoner, 14).”

The posting states that three of the four children injured in the fire received second-degree and possibly third-degree burns on at least 20 percent of their bodies. Olivia and Priscilla Wagoner and Zeke Hilliard are currently being treated at a burn center in Seattle.

David Wagoner received less serious burns and has been released from the hospital along with his sister, Hadasa, 14. Both received second-degree burns on their legs, feet and hands.

Josiah Wagoner’s GoFundMe campaign had received 51 separate donations totaling $3,860 by Tuesday afternoon, according to the website.

In an update posted Monday afternoon, he noted that the twins had begun physical therapy, but were having difficulty eating enough food.

“My family, my brothers and my sister’s family have had to take off work to either heal or help the ones that are hurt heal,” his initial post states. “Any money donated will go to helping our family with travel, medical, lodging, food expenses and to make up for income loss in the four families.”

To donate to the Wagoners’ recovery, visit www.gofundme.com/2cp4wss.

Raul Brown, a paramedic and firefighter with the Bigfork Fire Department, said Sunday that his department was dispatched to the incident at about 5:30 p.m. He said Bigfork firefighters helped with the medical response, along with Swan-Mission Search-and-Rescue and the Kalispell Regional Medical Center ALERT helicopter. The Swan Valley Fire Department also responded to the fire.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.