Colin Runnoe

On Wednesday 10/20 Colin was lighting faulty coleman gas stove in his car to warm it up quickly; as it was very cold that day.  When he lit it, there were flames coming from the gas stove and also where it twists onto the small propane tank. He picked it up to try and quickly turn it off, but at this point liquid propane was coming out around the tank and immediately his hands were on fire.  He twisted the wrong way and the flames got worse and then the gas stove twisted all the way off of the propane tank.  At this point the flames and liquid propane increased dramatically.  He threw the tank on the front passenger floor and crawled into the back seat with hands on fire.  It was so bright he couldn't find the door handle to get out. He attempted to kick the back passenger window out to no avail. He was strong enough that the door was bowed out, but not enough to give him oxygen or let much smoke out. He says it was so hot his teeth were burning.  He held his breath as long as he could.  The last thing he remembers is hearing a hissing sound and turning his head towards it (a soda bottle or something with a tiny amount of oxygen in it) then taking a breath of the tiny bit of fresh air. His wife Marie found him possibly an hour later.  She was inside caring for their 8 month old daughter and 97 year old grandmother.  She stuck her head out the front door to yell for their dog,  Roscoe, and smelled burning plastic.  She immediately went to the car, which was in the driveway yet,  and saw the passenger airbag deployed,  smoke,  no open windows and the ceiling melting up front.  She opened the back door and Colin's head fell out.  He was unconscious and had severe burns to the face and hands,(we later found out his left arm, and part of his back and right knee were also 2nd degree burns). He also had black froth coming from his nose.  His wife being a nurse knew he had bad inhalation injuries and called 911. He was flown to Fargo, North Dakota and then to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, MN to a burn center. To read more see daily journal updates