Two people injured in fire

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

March 25, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

A fire reported by a passerby Monday that totaled a garage, a tractor and damaged the adjoining house has left one person with second- and third-degree burns and another with minor burns, according to Bemidji Fire Chief Bill Rabe.

The fire at 618 Lake Ave. N.E. -- owned by Floyd LaCroix and his wife -- was reported by Sherry Schochenmaier, who lives about a mile away and was driving by on Lake Avenue when she saw the thick white smoke.

"At first, I thought, 'My goodness, it's snowing hard,' then I smelled the smoke," she said. "There's no mistaking that smell. I had a house fire myself over a year ago."

She drove up the long driveway and found the the couple outside. Schochenmaier, who has medical training, recognized the man had serious burns on the back of his legs. The woman appeared sick from fumes from the burning garage.

"They were outside when I got there, but they couldn't call the fire department -- their phone wasn't working."

She called the fire department about 1:15 p.m. on her cellular phone and also used her car phone to call for an ambulance.

"Thank goodness for cellular phones," she said.

LaCroix was sent to a burn treatment center in Duluth, and his wife was treated and released locally at North Country Regional Hospital. He was diagnosed on the scene with second- and third-degree burns, and his wife had minor burns to her hair and hands.

Rabe said LaCroix had been working on a tractor in his garage when gas leaked by the machine was ignited by a wood stove.

Firefighters were at the scenes for about two hours.