Chimney fire smokes out family

MEADOW LAKES — A residential structure fire pushed a couple out of their home Thursday morning, but not until one man had rescued his three dogs.

Alaska State Troopers and the West Lakes Fire Department responded to the house on W. Peninsula Drive about 9:15 a.m., after reports of a chimney fire by the family.

“It was flaming up pretty good when we pulled up,” said Alaska State Trooper Chris Green at the scene.

During the blaze, homeowner Michael Derrick re-entered the home and had to leap from a second-story window after going back to save some of his wife’s belongings. Derrick said he first re-entered the house after getting his wife Jeanie safely away from the blaze to rescue their three dogs, Juneau, Angel Eyes and Nanook, who were still inside. He then returned to the upstairs bedroom to throw as much of his wife’s things out the window as he could, then climbed out the window, the only available exit at that point.

At the scene, Derrick was concerned that Nanook, an Akita-husky mix, had followed him back into the house when he went to retrieve his wife’s belongings, and was stuck inside, but West Lakes Battalion Chief James Keel said firefighters had not seen the dog inside and suspected it had run off.

“We’ll keep an eye on things,” Keel said, with an hour or two left of clearing the scene Thursday morning.

Keel said firefighters had “most of the fire knocked down” fairly quickly, because of their quick response time.

To Derrick, however, time was distorted that morning. He couldn’t be sure when the fire had started, only that it had risen from the second floor stove to the attic very quickly.

“Time slows down and goes fast at the same time,” he said.

Derrick said he, his wife and middle school-aged child had lived in the house for a year and a half, and had never had any trouble with the stove or chimney.

“But it’s an old house,” he said.

Keel said the type of fire the Derricks described is somewhat common this time of year, as the temperature drops and residents begin using heating systems that haven’t been activated for months. He hadn’t asked the homeowners if they had cleaned the chimney recently, but suspected a lack of maintenance to be the cause of the fire.

Most of the exterior of the house remained intact, and a classic car in the garage appeared to be undamaged, but Derrick was more concerned with damage to what was in the house.

“Everything we had,” he said.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), re-entering a burning building is extremely hazardous to human health. A FEMA pamphlet on the issue gives the following advice to anyone who has escaped a house fire: “Once you’re out, stay out!” reads the pamphlet, which goes on to explain that a lack of oxygen inside structure fires makes them very dangerous, even if residents don’t encounter flames.

“One of the greatest hazards to life that exists in a building fire of any magnitude is the lack of sufficient oxygen,” reads the pamphlet, which is available at usfa.fema.gov.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.