Published Wednesday, February 20, 2002
The Daily Journal (Fergus Falls, MN)
Kimberly Block had driven to Breckenridge Monday with two of her three children. She was looking for a special kind of makeup she needed for her new job as a check out cashier at Service Food Super Valu.
About 12:15 p.m., Block pulled up to her destination, Loopy's Dollar Store. Her youngest son, Christopher Prince, 2, was asleep in his car seat. Her older son, Jonathan, 10, was also in the family van. Her daughter, was elsewhere with her father. Block went into the store and right near the front door, found the makeup she was looking for. After paying for the goods, Block headed out the door to her van. "At first I thought it was smoke coming from somewhere in the exhaust system under the van," said Block. But when she pulled open the sliding side door, smoke billowed out from inside. Then Block said she noticed flames shooting up from between the two front bucket seats. "My biggest concern was getting the little one out," she said. "The fire was real close to him and I was afraid he'd be burned." While Jonathan crawled out of the van on his own, Kimberly worked frantically to unhook Christopher's car seat straps. Kimberly said Jonathan had tried to help his little brother, but had trouble finding him in the smoke. And she said the car seat was an old-fashioned one and not the easiest to use under perfect conditions. Kimberly was able to free Christopher and she handed him to a bystander. She had a water jug in the van and tried to douse the flames, but the fire was already out of control. An ambulance took Jonathan and Christopher to St. Francis Medical Center in Breckenridge to be checked over. Jonathan was reporting a sore throat at the scene. Both were released after being treated for smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Breckenridge police and fire departments.