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DOUGLAS The fire chief for the Douglas Fire Department fought the flames in street clothes and slippers until help arrived, but it wasn't enough to save his rural residence from a Thanksgiving Day fire.

Gorlyn Wohlk escaped with just the clothes on his back. He was lucky to escape with his life.

Wohlk said it was about 6:30 p.m. when he thought he heard a strange sound in the basement.

"I was just going down to the basement," he said, adding that suddenly, "The door went flying across the room."

A malfunctioning space heater had exploded and set the place ablaze.

Separated from his fire extinguishers across the room by the flames, Wohlk attempted to put out the fire in the darkness of a power outage while his son, Daryn, who had been in a nearby farm shop when the explosion occurred, called the fire department.

Departments from Douglas, Ryder-Makoti and Garrison responded. Wohlk praised their efforts, but the house, built a mile west of Douglas in 1976, was a total loss.

"This thing was so hot and going so hard by the time the trucks got here," Wohlk said. "The only thing I saved was the shirt and pants that I was wearing and my slippers, and they were soaking wet."

Someone eventually brought Wohlk's fire suit to him.

Wohlk suffered burns to his hands that he described as minor.

More troubling has been the loss of memorabilia, including family photos. His wife died five years ago. He lost an heirloom, a 1915 mahogany table given to him by his grandmother.

Wohlk said trips to the fire-gutted house have resulted in little salvage. Laundry had been ready to be washed, and Wohlk found that clothing at the bottom of the pile was spared damage.

St. John's Lutheran Church of Ryder will hold a benefit for Wohlk on Dec. 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Curt's Place in Ryder. Donations also can be sent in care of Bruce Peterson at 23901-233rd Ave SW, Ryder, ND 58779. Make checks to St. John's Lutheran Church.

Wohlk has been staying with his son in Douglas.

One of his concerns has been getting water restored to his cattle. His water source before the fire had come from a tap off his house.

He tries not to kick himself for not being more wary of the space heater.

"I have had that thing for 20 years and used it all the time," he said.

In surveying the house damage, he gained a sense of the danger that had existed. A window lay 40 feet away, blown by the force of the explosion.