MONROE — After the accident, Jo Ellen Blair was in the emergency room with her husband of 45 years.
Royal Blair’s body was covered with severe burns. He would not survive.
“I really did it up this time, didn’t I?” he said to his wife.
“Yes, you did,” she said.
Blair’s family hopes his accident, fatal but preventable, will serve as a strong reminder to exercise caution when using home heaters.
“That’s what we want to do,” Jo Ellen Blair, 69, said. “Save someone else from going through this.”
The accident occurred Dec. 11.
Royal Blair, 76, was in his shop that frigid afternoon, trying to fix a bedroom lamp. He closed the door and was using a propane heater.
The heater was damaged, Jo Ellen Blair said. Her husband had lent it to a friend, and when it was returned, it no longer had a protective grille over the heating element. He never fixed it.
The Monroe Fire Department originally said Royal Blair backed a wheelchair into the exposed heater, but interviews with the family dispelled that notion. The motorized scooter he used to help get around was left outside the workshop.
Instead, the department and the family believe he brushed up against the heater as he worked, igniting his clothes.
He came out of the shop ablaze, Jo Ellen Blair said. Family and neighbors rushed to his aid, stripping the burning garments from his body.
Jo Ellen Blair followed her husband to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He suffered 40 percent burns on his body and died the next day.
She said the accident could have been prevented.
“Don’t ever use them without a shield on it,” she said. “Watch your clothes.”
The Monroe Fire Department urged similar caution, saying many homeowners use heating devices when the temperature drops. Homeowners need to follow all warnings on space heaters, fireplaces and other home-heating tools.
“It’s not just these propane cylinders,” Monroe Fire Department spokeswoman Richelle Risdon said.
Jo Ellen Blair remembered her husband as a loving family man who enjoyed spending time with his two great-grandchildren.
He worked in construction and logging and also opened Blair Tire Co. After a series of owners, the tire store he opened became part of Les Schwab Tire Co., Jo Ellen Blair said.
He retired 15 years ago, after a stroke. He loved fishing, camping and playing card games such as cribbage and Texas hold ‘em, she said.
Royal Blair made many friends during his decades in Monroe. He was a 58-year member of the Monroe Eagles Club. Per his request, the family intends on holding an Irish wake to celebrate his life.
“That’s what he wanted,” his wife said, “so that’s what he’s going to get.”
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com.
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