Runaway Blazer crashes into barn

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

A Columbia Falls woman survived a bizarre wreck Tuesday morning that left her vehicle in flames deep in a horse barn.

Edith Steere was southbound on Highway 206 when the accelerator on her Chevy Blazer apparently stuck at highway speed. Steere couldn't get the vehicle to slow down so she put on the emergency brake and drove the rig off the side of the road on a corner north of the Silver Bullet Bar.

Her intent was to jump out the rig and send it flying into a grove of trees in a resident's front yard, her husband, Dale, said.

But the car missed the trees and went through the yard, over a fence, across a pile of sawdust and into a nearby horse barn, bursting into flames.

Steere survived the wreck with just a knee injury. There were three horses in the barn. None were injured.

The Bad Rock Fire Department saved the barn from burning down. In fact, save for some structural damage, the barn was largely intact.

The owner of the barn and horses, Denise Rubertone, said she had just moved her warmblood stallion out of the stall that the car slammed into.

Rubertone said she'd just sold the place, too. Insurance should cover the damage.

Mrs. Steere was taken to the hospital to have her knee examined. Her husband, who went to the accident scene after Edith Steere called him, said the Blazer had never had a problem before. In fact, they just put new brakes and new tires on it.

The vehicle was a total loss. Creston and Columbia Falls responded with mutual aid to the scene.