Blaze erupts at Parks business

Sept. 27, 2005

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - A fire consumed Wolverine Supply early Sunday morning, inflicting about $500,000 worth of damage, but firefighters managed to drive flames away from stacks of vinyl siding, roofing materials, tools and other contruction supplies stored inside its warehouse.

A man and his wife driving on Fairview Loop Road saw a glow from the fire sometime around 3:30 a.m. and, since the man frequents the building, drove over to investigate, Jack Krill Jr., chief of Central Mat-Su Fire Department, said Monday evening.

"By the time they got there, there was fire in those rooms," Krill said. "He went in and found a fire extinguisher."

Krill said the intensity of the flames quickly drove the man out of the building.

The call to firefighters came in at about 3:30 Sunday morning and Krill got there five minutes after receiving it, arriving at the same time as Deputy Chief James Steele.

Fire was blowing out of the first-floor windows, a sign it had been in progress for about 20 to 30 minutes, Krill said.

The fire spread rapidly and its ferociousness kept firefighters from entering the building, Krill said. Firefighters cut holes in the roof to ventilate the fire and keep it from spreading to an attached warehouse and shop. The structure began to collapse when flames penetrated both the attic and crawl space area, and firefighters were forced to retreat from the roof, he said.

Firefighters then repositioned their trucks and focused on defending the other buildings as the fire started toward the warehouse.

"We actually worked on the fire about six hours before we were comfortable with it," Krill said. "This was one of the largest fires since the Windbreak in March 2003."

Trucks, tankers and personnel from Butte, Palmer, Meadow Lakes and Big Lake responded to the fire. More than 50 firefighters worked on the fire, Krill said. They used more than 250,000 gallons of water - about 500 gallons a minute, Krill said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known. State Deputy Fire Marshal John Bond is investigating the blaze, as is Krill.

"We can determine pretty much where it started," Krill said. "But there were a lot of different tenants in the building and we have to talk to a lot of people yet."

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.