Blaze destroys Sutton home Saturday evening

KATE GOLDEN/Frontiersman reporter

No one was seriously injured in a blaze that destroyed a Sutton house Saturday evening.

The homeowner, whose name was not provided by authorities, told firefighters that when he got home from work, he opened the door, smoke billowed out, and he ran across the street to dial 911, according to John Murdoch, a Mat-Su Borough fire training coordinator who responded to the fire.

"It had been cooking in there for quite a while," Murdoch said.

Mat-Su Borough fire trucks arrived at the corner of McPherson Street and Granite Street about 15 minutes after the 6:30 p.m. call came in. By that time, most of the primary structure was already burning and unsalvageable. Firefighters concentrated their efforts on protecting surrounding structures, such as fuel tanks and a shed.

"You can't put people inside of a burning structure that's three-quarters below ground," Murdoch said.

Firefighters took about three hours to extinguish the fire in the minus-15-degree weather, according to Murdoch.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, according to Dennis Brodigan, director of emergency services for the Mat-Su Borough.

Brodigan said it may have been a stove fire: the homeowner reported to firefighters that he'd seen fire in the kitchen from outside.