Staff photo by Fritz Busch A New Ulm firefighter looks over the smoldering remains of a snowmobile that backfired and burned up at the Gary and Afton Woratschka residence at New Ulm Mobile Village Wednesday afternoon. No one was injured.

NEW ULM — Gary Woratschka got a Christmas Day surprise Wednesday afternoon when he tried to start his snowmobile at New Ulm Mobile Village.

“I was going to move it. I tried to start it when it backfired and blew up,” Woratschka said. “I saw a fireball come out of the carburetor.”

Woratschka’s wife Afton was in the residence when the explosion happened.

“I heard an explosion and looked outside and saw flames higher than the roof of the trailer,” Afton said. “Gary ran inside and said he wanted some water to put out the fire, but it was too big for that.”

Brown County Dispatch got a 911 call at 3:25 p.m. Wednesday. Four fire trucks, a number of police officers, and firefighters rushed to the scene, some using their personal vehicles. The fire was quickly extinguished. Firefighters left the scene after about a half hour.