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'Nothing burned in the cabin. Just us,' says survivor of Fairbanks blast

David Weissman's watch stopped in the middle of the afternoon July 31 at a small cabin on his property outside of Fairbanks near Rosie Creek.

In the moments before it stopped at about 3 p.m., Weissman and his wife, Ellen Weiser, had been inside along with their 21-year-old granddaughter, Meadow Batejan, and two prospective tenants, Morganne Armstrong and Colin Campell.

"We had just renovated a cute little cabin on our property and we were showing it to Colin and Morganne because they were going to rent it," said Ellen, 69.

"We were all ready to go to a party. It was a happy day," she said. "Then it wasn't."

Morganne, a 26-year-old yoga instructor from Fairbanks, had many of her belongings in her car and was ready to move in with Colin, 27, who grew up in Tanana and is also a yoga instructor.

Ellen said she doesn't recall smelling propane or anything out of the ordinary, but remembers bits and pieces, including hearing her husband say, "This is the stove and this is how you turn it on.'"

"The next thing I think we were blown out of the cabin," she said.

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An instantaneous fireball exploded from the propane cookstove, probably from a leak, hot enough to stop David's watch.

"There was paper in the cabin that did not burn," Ellen said. "Nothing burned in the cabin, just us."

She said she can't be sure of the time, but the firefighters and EMTs arrived quickly, took them to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, and she woke up two days later in Seattle.

Ellen has been released from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, though she spends her days in the hospital, where the four others remain on the eighth floor.  "I was the least burned, but I think I'm the most emotionally wrecked," she said in a phone interview Friday.

The four who remain hospitalized — David, Meadow, Morganne and Colin — have had skin grafts and their release dates from the burn unit are not clear at this point, though all are recovering.

Meadow, 21, who graduated in the spring from Millersville University in Pennsylvania, was in Fairbanks visiting her grandparents after getting back from her second volunteer mission to an orphanage in Ghana.

She led an effort earlier this year to raise funds for a bread oven, so the orphanage could sell the bread and raise money and support 100 orphans. "In addition, the children at the school could have bread as a part of their meal, which is a rare occurrence," she said before her trip to Ghana.

She studied special education at Millersville and intends to work with autistic children in Philadelphia. She suffered burns on about one-fifth of her body and hopes to be well enough in a few days to fly to the East Coast for more treatment in Pennsylvania.

"Meadow is focused on getting home, which is good," Ellen said.

David, 64, who was closest to the stove, suffered burns to his hands, arms and face. A former partner in a Pennsylvania engineering firm, he moved to the area in 2008 and is a project manager for the engineering firm Design Alaska as well as volunteer president of Green Star, the local recycling effort. Both he and Ellen, who works with Aging at Home Fairbanks, have been active in the community.

His hands are immobilized as he recovers from skin grafts and remains in pain.

Ellen said they feel terrible about what happened and are struggling to come to grips with it. They are grateful for the kindness shown to them. "I never ever would have thought that I would be the recipient of such amazing love," Ellen said.

The young people are foremost in their minds.

Morganne and Colin, who suffered burns on about one-third of their bodies, had just arrived at the cabin just before the explosion.

Morganne had taken off her shoes before walking inside and went past the propane stove. She was looking out at the river in the rear, she told her mother, Annie Armstrong, an assistant professor of education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

It must have taken her a second or two longer than the others to get out and she suffered extensive burns on her feet, Annie said.

Both Morganne and Colin share a passion for yoga,  the discipline and training of which are proving to be a strength in their recovery. "Colin is really strong. He has pushed through it. He'll be discharged at least eight days before Morganne," said Annie. "They said probably four to five weeks."

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The Armstrongs live two houses away in the quiet rural subdivision west of Fairbanks and are friends with David and Ellen. Annie said she heard a popping sound that day that could have been a car and ran  over to investigate when she heard the sirens.

She praised the response of the firefighters and medics.

The door of the cabin had been blown off and there was broken glass, but the inside of the cabin was largely undisturbed. She realized her daughter had been there when she saw her melted down vest on the ground.

"Morganne and Colin were both behind the cabin with a medic and he was very good," Annie said. Morganne had told Colin she needed to get her feet up and she did.

"They maintained by staring at each other, not letting each other freak out, they maintained that constant visual contact," Annie said they had told her.

Two weeks have passed and she said the burn victims are focused on healing as they are seeing improvements day by day. Morganne is able to get up and walk to the bathroom.

Friends have been rallying to support the injured people in a variety of ways as they face the trauma. A long recovery period and an immense financial burden looms in the future.

Yoga instructors in Fairbanks have donated their time and salaries to assist, while others have been taking other steps and arranging special events.

A gofundme page has been set up to benefit Morganne and Colin.

Friends are raising money to help David and Ellen here, while friends of Meadow are raising money at this site to assist in her recovery.

Columnist Dermot Cole lives in Fairbanks. The views expressed here are the writer's and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.

 

Dermot Cole

Former ADN columnist Dermot Cole is a longtime reporter, editor and author.

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