RV fire claims toddler's life

SANDPOINT — Bonner County sheriff’s officials say a 2-year-old girl was killed in a fire that consumed a recreational vehicle in the Hoodoo Valley on Tuesday night.

The child was identified as Genevieve Winn.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation on Wednesday, but Undersheriff David Hale said preliminary findings suggest it may be linked to the electrical supply that was serving the RV.

Hale said the power supply may have either shorted or been overloaded.

Firefighters from the Spirit Lake and West Pend Oreille fire districts were summoned to 4038 Hoodoo Loop Road southeast of Oldtown shortly after 8 p.m.

Winn was alone in the RV, although there were a number of adults were nearby when the fire took hold.

“There were efforts, according to them, to fight this fire, to get in and find out whether or not the child was in there,” said Hale.

Human remains were discovered when the fire was extinguished. An autopsy by the Spokane Medical Examiner’s Office is pending, Hale said.

Hale said investigators are still parsing through witness statements.

“There were some people that had apparently come and gone in this particular area. There were numerous people that were either known to be in the area or perhaps were said to being in the area,” Hale added.

The vehicle was described as an older Dodge camper in Bonner Dispatch fire and EMS run reports. Hale said it was being utilized as a residence and that other people lived on the property where the fire took place.

Hale said the destructiveness of the fire will make the investigation a time-consuming affair.

“There was just nothing more than rims and pieces of metal left. It was completely decimated,” he said.

Hale said there is a chance that criminal charges could be filed as a result of the death, but that determination has not yet been made.