Priest Lake woman dies in fire

PRIEST LAKE — Authorities are waiting for autopsy results from the Bonner County Coroner’s Office to positively identify a woman who died in a Priest Lake structure fire shortly after 6 p.m. Monday evening.

The fire broke out at the McDonald Logging Company located at 26812 Highway 57 around milepost 27, quickly becoming fully engulfed and destroying the living quarters of the structure.

The location served as both a home and office for the long-standing “lakers” and beloved family.

While the cause of the fire remains under investigation, Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said Tuesday that Ron and Shirley McDonald were both home at the time.

Shirley McDonald was in the house preparing dinner and doing the company’s financial record keeping while her husband Ron was out working in a shop, according to West Priest Lake Fire District Chief Tim Ventres.

“A passerby was the first to notice the smoke and flame coming from a window, so he stopped and alerted the husband in the shop,” Ventres said.

Ventres said 15 WPLFD volunteers and four volunteers from the Coolin Cavanaugh Bay Protective Fire District spent the entire night battling the blaze and returned early Tuesday morning.

While no foul play is expected, Sheriff Wheeler said that, “our arson investigators have been working night and day but the cause is still under investigation.”

Heavy equipment owned by the McDonald family and on location proved to play a pivotal role in saving the office side of the structure, as an employee was able to operate a track hoe and make a ‘trench cut’ in the roof to allow ventilation.

“There’s no doubt that’s what did it (contained the fire),” Ventres said. “Trenching the roof was the perfect way to stop the fire from spreading.”

The chief said a nearby propane truck became hot to the point that it “started to relieve itself” and could have “blown up and killed everyone on the grounds” had the firefighters not doused it with water.

Surrounding shops on the property were undamaged.

Volunteer firefighters from the WPLFD and CCFD spent four hours knocking down the flames and worked throughout the night alongside deputies from the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office and Priest Lake Ambulance/EMT Service.

“I just want to put out a reminder to everyone to check that your smoke detectors have batteries and are functioning properly,” Ventres said.

He said the generosity of the Peirone family (Jim and Jackie) for being an instrumental part of acquiring the larger 6,000 gallon water trucks also played an important role in stopping the fire.

“They made all the difference in the world and without that water we would have lost the building,” said Ventres.

Deputies had to partially shut down Highway 57 for a little over an hour due to power lines in close proximity.