A Whidbey Island resident is without house or home following a Wednesday morning fire that consumed his car and motorhome.
Dan Weehunt, 59, was living in his 1979 Fleetwood Tioga parked at a friend’s house on Cuthbert Drive just north of Greenbank when it caught fire at about 6 a.m. Sept. 15. He said he woke up to smoke pouring from a fuse box located under the bed.
Weehunt had just purchased the vehicle and everything he owned was stored inside. Jumping into action, he grabbled a garden hose and began a desperate attempt to put out the flames himself.
“I’m singed all over,” Weehunt said. “I went back in twice trying to put it out.”
Large hunks of Weehunt’s hair were indeed singed and his face and hands were black with soot when he spoke with a Whidbey News-Times reporter after the fire.
His efforts to contain the fire proved futile, however. Within just a few minutes, the entire motorhome was engulfed in flames. The fire spread to Weehunt’s 1994 Dodge minivan, which was parked nearby, when the propane tank in the trailer exploded.
Property owner and Weehunt’s close friend, Mike Cuthbert, said the fire got so big so quickly, that he doubts much could have been done by anyone.
“You couldn’t have put it out,” Cuthbert said. “I doubt the fire trucks could have.”
“It took less than 15 minutes and it was gone,” he said.
Although Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue Chief Ed Hartin, who lives nearby, was on the scene within minutes, the closest station is about five miles away on Race Road. By the time the first fire truck arrived, the motorhome was a hopeless inferno.
The firefighters were able to contain the blaze and stop it from spreading any further, however. Cuthbert’s workshop and garage were nearby, along with a 1976 Camaro he is in the process of restoring. It suffered paint damage, melted lights and a cracked windshield.
A plastic truck-bedliner mounted on a trailer was also severely melted by the intense heat. Cuthbert shrugged off the damage.
“I’m more worried about Weehunt,” he said. “He’s got nothing now.”
Weehunt is a former Nichols Brothers Boat Builders employee commonly known as “Wingnut.” He worked for the company for more than 13 years before a medical issue forced him to retire a few years ago. He lives on disability and he had just purchased the motorhome. He was fixing it up with the intention of taking it down to Oregon to visit his children and grandchildren.
“That’s what I was going to live in,” said Weehunt, with tears in his eyes. “I hadn’t even paid for it all the way.”
He said was extremely thankful, however, that he and his dog, “Little Miss,” got out safely.
It wasn’t Weehunt’s first disastrous encounter with fire. Both he and the dog made the front page of the South Whidbey Record in 2007 when, in a very similar incident, Weehunt was nearly killed when his mattress caught fire while he was asleep. He survived because the dog, a Boston bull terrier/boxer mix, woke him up by jumping up and down on his chest.
“At least me and Little Miss are OK,” Weehunt said.
Hartin said the local chapter of the American Red Cross has been called and that they would be contacting Weehunt soon to see what assistance they could provide.
Donations are being collected. Checks can be made out to Dan Weehunt, and mailed to, or dropped off in person, at 916 Cuthbert Drive, Greenbank, 98253-6016.
