The most recent came just before 11 p.m. Wednesday in a trailer home on Sylvan Road. According to an Alaska State Troopers statement, two men driving past the home spotted the fire. While one man called for help, the other went inside and helped a 12-year-old boy escape. The man received burns to his arm and hand in the process.
“We don’t advocate for people running into burning buildings, but we’re very glad that the 12-year-old was saved,” AST spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
 Courtesy photo/Division of Fire and Life Safety. A fire at this mobile home on Sylvan Road late Wednesday claimed the life of a 9-year-old boy. The victim's 12-year-old brother was saved from the blaze by two men who spotted the fire. |
Firefighters quickly located a second boy, the 9-year-old brother of the boy who made it out. The younger boy had died near the front door, troopers report. The 12-year-old was taken to an Anchorage hospital in critical condition, accompanied by his mother.
The fire destroyed the trailer home. The boys were the only people home at the time. Peters said late Thursday that troopers were still working to notify family, so the boys weren’t immediately identified.
Troopers have not yet determined a cause for the fire, but investigators are looking into it, Peters said. Meanwhile, troopers are conducting interviews, but will wait until they read the fire marshal’s report before deciding how to proceed.
“Until we actually know what the cause of the fire is, you can’t really determine whether or not something is criminal,” Peters said.
Central Mat-Su Assistant Fire Chief Michael Keenan said it will likely be tough going.
“I don‘t know that we very will be able to say definitively what happened in that fire because there’s just nothing left.”
Peters said troopers are still seeking information on the case and trying to find the good Samaritans. Anyone with information should call troopers at 373-8328 or 745-2131.
Another fatality
The first Valley fire fatality of the year came at about 6:45 p.m. Monday. Darlene Miller, 54, was found unconscious and badly burned but alive at a home on Melanie Avenue in Wasilla.
She was flown to Anchorage, then to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where she later died.
“Those were catastrophic burns,” said the borough’s director of emergency services, Dennis Brodigan.
Keenan said a passerby spotted that fire as well. His crew had to break through a locked front door to get inside. Once that was done they quickly set to work, knocking down the fire, which had burned through a portion of the first story of the log cabin-style home.
As that first crew checked the second story, Keenan said a second crew arrived and quickly found the woman, about 10 feet from where the fire started.
Keenan said investigators are still looking into a cause for the blaze. He said it appears to have started on the first floor in the living room near a bed.
“It seemed to have smoldered for quite some time,” Keenan said.
The flames were small but the heat was intense. The home had smoke detectors, he said, but it’s unclear now if they worked.
“They weren’t operating when we got there but they were melted,” he said. “Both the first floor one and the second floor one were melted and on the ground.”
Keenan said that, before this week, the most recent fire fatality he could remember came two or three years ago. Fire deaths aren’t too common in the Valley, he said, and to have two in a week has taken its toll.
The department is working to put together a debriefing for firefighters and medics working through stress and grief.
“We had quite a few newer firefighters out there who have never ever seen something like that,” Keenan said.
Big Lake Fire Chief Bill Gamble, whose crews sent mutual aid to the Wednesday’s fire, said he was told medics and firefighters on scene, especially those with children at home, had a rough night.
“There were firefighters on scene last night that were just in tears and medics that were in tears,” Gamble said Thursday.
He, too, noted that fire fatalities are a rare occurrence.
“I’ve been on probably six or seven in the 20 years that I’ve been here. But I’ve never been on one with a child,” Gamble said. “Thank god I’ve never been on one with a child.”
Keenan said he could offer little reason as to why two such fires occurred within days of each other.
One thing’s clear, though, his department has been exceedingly busy. Since the first of the year they’ve had about 30 fire calls, everything from carbon monoxide detectors to smoke alarms to actual structure fires.
Some of that, he said, comes from the cold weather.
“Everybody’s using their heaters a lot more and they’re stoking up their heaters and their fireplaces a lot more,” Keenan said.
He had two pieces of advice: First, people should make sure their chimneys are clean and their wood as dry as possible. Second, they should make sure they have working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
“That’s what’s going to give them that warning,” he said.
Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.
Comments
18 comment(s)KD13 wrote on Jan 13, 2009 12:11 PM:
Boys Girls Clubs wrote on Jan 12, 2009 12:26 PM:
Items can be taken to either of the Valley Clubhouses, or by calling 355-6137 "
jhanson wrote on Jan 12, 2009 8:46 AM:
Crystal Langham wrote on Jan 10, 2009 12:01 PM:
lend a hand wrote on Jan 9, 2009 8:43 PM:
Our thoughts and prayers are with this family. "
Michelle Kevin Wheeler wrote on Jan 9, 2009 7:19 PM:
Rebecca wrote on Jan 9, 2009 2:23 PM:
stephanie wrote on Jan 9, 2009 1:11 PM:
mother who has lost a son wrote on Jan 9, 2009 10:09 AM:
sad day wrote on Jan 9, 2009 9:20 AM:
npadilla wrote on Jan 9, 2009 8:49 AM:
Single mom.... wrote on Jan 9, 2009 8:26 AM:
cmh wrote on Jan 9, 2009 7:58 AM:
Valley wrote on Jan 8, 2009 8:53 PM:
peace wrote on Jan 8, 2009 6:47 PM:
BlackShadow wrote on Jan 8, 2009 5:43 PM:
Bob Dehn wrote on Jan 8, 2009 12:41 PM:
Sedens wrote on Jan 8, 2009 12:23 PM: