Braxton Taylor
One adult and two children suffered severe burns this week when their ice shanty caught fire due to what local anglers say is a known problem of methane gas trapped beneath the ice.
On the morning of February 1, 2025, three anglers were fishing on the Harriman Reservoir in southern Vermont when their non-insulated fabric ice shelter suddenly caught fire. Police have not identified the victims, but a GiveSendGo fund set up for the family identifies them as Joel Shepard and his daughters, Kaylee and Emmaleigh.
Local fishing guide Logan Boyd was on the scene leading a charter when the tent caught fire. He was driving back across the ice from dropping off a friend when he passed by the Shepard’s tent.
“I could see a heat signature coming off of it like off a grill or blacktop, maybe 15 or 20 feet in the air, a really intense heat. I was thinking they must have a crazy wood stove going in there. And then we saw a big plume of smoke and realized it was the tent,” he told MeatEater. “As that happened, the dad and the girls came running out from the back of the tent. And their hats were melted down to their hair, their gloves and everything was melted off of them.”
Boyd got the three victims into his four-wheeler and drove them back to their truck. He said they seemed to be in shock, but Joe Shepard was still able to drive. The three victims were eventually moved to a hospital in Boston where they received treatment for severe burns on their face and hands.
“They didn’t seem super burned at first, but I’ve never seen anything like that. White lips, and all the hair just, gone,” Boyd continued.
He told MeatEater that he’d noticed a “knee-high geyser” shoot up from the ice when he’d drilled a hole earlier in the week, but on that day, he hadn’t noticed more than a few bubbles.
The Wilmington Police Department said in a press release that this is the first they’ve heard of methane gas being trapped beneath the ice. But during the course of this investigation, they received several phone calls from people who have been burned due to a methane fire.
“These incidents were reportedly witnessed over the last several years during the ice fishing seasons,” they said, adding that this is the first time one of these incidents has been reported.
Boyd posted a video on Facebook from seven or eight years ago showing a methane geyser being lit on fire. His father had drilled a hole through the ice, and the pressure was so high that the 12-foot geyser blew the auger out of his hands and sent him flying.
He was unharmed, but ice anglers, being who they are, decided to light the geyser on fire, and it burned for hours.
Despite these accounts, the Wilmington Police Department cast some doubt on whether last week’s flash fire was caused by the gasses beneath the ice or a “faulty propane cylinder” attached to a heating device in the ice shanty. They claim that this faulty cylinder “may have contributed to the creation of the flammable vapor cloud” but admit that it is not possible to determine exactly what caused the conflagration.
Still, they posted a warning online recommending that anglers do not have an “ignition source” in their tents due to “possible methane vapor.”
They also advise that even though a pocket of methane can be released by drilling a hole through the ice, these pockets can also move around under the ice. So, even though an angler may believe all the methane has dissipated from a hole, more methane may still come up and ignite.
It’s unclear exactly what causes the methane gas to collect, but Boyd has a theory. The Harriman Reservoir is fed by two rivers on the north end, both of which are lined with maple trees. When the leaves fall, they get flooded down into the reservoir and collect at the bottom of the lake. Decomposing maple leaves release methane, so when the reservoir freezes over and the water level is lowered, gas gets compressed into pockets underneath the ice.
As for the victims, Joel Shepard’s wife, Erica Jean Shepard, reports that the “toasters” are recovering well.
“Appointment update on the toasters! They did great today. The doctors see so much progress and healing,” she said in a Facebook post. “Their face swelling has gone down almost completely and now the burns are beginning to peel off. Emmy is not a fan of the peeling especially on her lips, but Kaylee’s face is coming back just as beautiful as ever. I am so proud of these girls and how they’ve handled this week.”
Ice-fishing members of the MeatEater crew say they’ve never heard of anything like this happening before.
“I’ve heard about air pockets under the ice before, but not methane. That’s wild!” said MeatEater’s Seth Morris.
Local officials have so far declined to post signs warning anglers about the danger of methane fire on the Harriman Reservoir, so Boyd did it himself.
“I typed some stuff up, printed some pictures out, and laminated them and hung them down by the fishing accesses. The town is refusing to put up any signs. Someone had to do it,” he said. “It’s definitely not good for business, though.”
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