Arson suspected in weekend cabin fire

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers are looking for the person who kicked in the door of a cabin and set the place on fire; meanwhile, firefighters are in the middle of wildfire season and urging caution in the Valley.

According to a trooper press statement, the burning cabin was reported off of Vine Road at 9:30 a.m., Sunday.

“The fire was intentionally set by an unknown person(s). The cabin was a total loss,” according to the statement.

Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said that no one had lived in the cabin for three or four years.

“The homeowner discovered it. He went by just to check the building and discovered the front door kicked in and a fire inside,” Steele said.

He described the structure as a small A-frame and said there wasn’t much firefighters could do to save it.

“It pretty much had gutted the cabin when we had got there,” Steele said.

Anyone with information on the arson is asked to call troopers at 745-2131 or, to remain anonymous, Mat-Su Crime Stoppers at 745-3333.

The fire also shows up in the daily report for the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center as a new fire fought by the state’s Division of Forestry. Coordinates in that report put the fire near Vine’s intersection with Valley View Drive. The report says the fire was quickly put out.

Steele said that the cabin fire spread into nearby grass and underbrush, as well as some nearby trees.

“Two birch trees were burning so they had to cut those down,” Steele said. “One actually was coming through the front deck of the cabin. The deck was built around it.”

As fire seasons go, Steele said, this one has so far been relatively typical, with a lot of calls from worried neighbors and a handful of escaped fires that needed to be tamped down quickly.

His second-in-command — Michael Keenan — summed up the feeling in firefighting circles.

“We’re primed right now and people need to be respectful of fire,” he said. “We’re just waiting for a start now.”

Forestry has had burn bans in effect for a good portion of the start of fire season.

As of Monday afternoon there was not a burn ban, but the Forestry website leavened that information with a warning.

“The Matanuska and Susitna valleys have been experiencing isolated windy conditions. If you burn during windy periods, you will be violating the conditions and safe burning practices required by your burning permit,” says the website, forestry.alaska.gov/burn.

In short, burning is allowed, but people need to be very careful, need to get a burn permit at that website and call 761-6312 before starting anything bigger than a campfire just to make sure what rules are in effect.

The weekend saw four new fires start in the Valley, the biggest being four acres that burned near Deshka Landing Saturday. And Monday, a forestry effort to battle a grass fire near a coal seam off of Buffalo Mine Road dominated emergency band radios.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.