A North Fork man suffered burns to his foot after a fire destroyed an outbuilding at his home about a mile north of the Ford Cabin Thursday.

Doug Barnes was burning some material outside his home and had gone inside. The small fire spread to the outbuilding and the structure was completely engulfed in flames when neighbors smelled smoke and alerted him to the fire about 1:30 p.m.

Barnes suffered burns to a foot as he tried to put the fire out since the structure was near his home. He apparently didn’t have shoes on.

The neighbor called the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and started fighting the fire in a nearby field as it threatened another neighbor’s home and property.

Both Blankenship and Columbia Falls firefighters responded to the scene and were able to keep the fire from spreading to Barnes’ home as well as other homes, but the outbuilding, along with about 10 cords of firewood, were a complete loss. 

Before it was stopped, the fire covered about 3 acres.

Blankenship is the closest fire department but is still about an hour’s drive away. The fire was 46 miles north of Columbia Falls near the North Fork Road

The ALERT helicopter landed to transport Barnes to the hospital for treatment, but Barnes declined the flight and said he would drive himself to the hospital. Flight nurses did dress his wounds.

A Border Patrolman was also on the scene to help as well. 

Glacier National Park and Flathead National Forest also sent fire crews to help do mop-up work on the fire.