CELEBRATION OF SURVIVAL

BIG LAKE — This month marks a solemn anniversary for the Valley.

Fifteen years ago in 1996, the Miller’s Reach Fire, still the most destructive in Alaska’s history, tore through the community, burning acres and acres of forest, homes and businesses.

To mark the anniversary the community is holding a block party Saturday starting at 11 a.m. at the fire station on Big Lake Road. It’s a commemoration the community has been holding most years since the fire.

“The plan is that every year alternating between the Big Lake Fire Department and the Meadow Lakes Fire Department there will be some kind of public event to remind people that we don’t ever want to see a fire like that again,” said Bea Adler with the Mat-Su Borough’s Department of Emergency Services.

Unlike the 10th anniversary commemoration, Adler said, there won’t be any formal speeches. But there will be a lot of hands-on displays, door prizes, kids games, a DJ and free hamburgers, hot dogs and soda.

“We’ve got 28 vendors,” she said. “I’m calling them vendors, but nothing will be for sale; everything is free.”

Well, almost everything.

“The borough’s Animal Care and Regulation Department is bringing kitties and puppies for adoption,” Adler said. “Those are the only things that are not free because there is a fee that has to be paid for the animals. “

As far as activities go, they tend to focus on the theme of safety — safe boating, fire safety, etc. A booth will explain to locals what a recent drop in the Insurance Services Organization rating of the fire department should mean for their homeowners insurance rates. (Hint: rates should be going down.)

The Red Cross will be there, the state’s Division of Forestry, Smokey Bear and the Valley’s HAM Radio club.

“And, of course, we’ve put in a request for good weather,” Adler said.

A big part of it will be the participation of the North American Outdoor Institute. Debra McGhan, the institute’s executive director, said the group is planning what it’s calling a sample wilderness survival challenge.

“We play it like a game. We pick teams and then the teams are given a scenario,” McGhan said.

When the institute does its workshops the game is relatively elaborate, with teams working together to decide what equipment to bring along for the imaginary trip they’re taking.

“We’re just going to give people a sample. That way they get an idea of what it is,” she said.

The institute will be educating people about water safety, wilderness medicine, navigation and what to pack for a trip.

The goal in the presentation is similar to the goal of the institute in general — to show people the fun things there are to do in the Valley while also showing them how to enjoy the wilderness safely.

Anyone reading the news recently, she said, probably understands why there is a need for this kind of thing.

“People are doing things that just make them seem brain-dead,” McGhan said. But there are inspiring stories as well, where people had learned what to do and that training saved their lives.

“That’s really what keeps us going is if we can share this with a few people,” McGhan said.

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