Crews fight suspect blaze

MEADOW LAKES — A suspicious fire late Saturday evening nearly took the life of an elderly woman and destroyed a third of her home.

West Lakes Fire Chief Bill Gamble said a dog and two cats died in the fire, and three other dogs survived. The fire was reported on Rainbow Drive near Mile 49.5, Parks Highway.

“The elderly lady that lived there, she woke up to her smoke detectors going off and she opened her bedroom door and there was nothing but red and smoke, so she very smartly closed her bedroom door and grabbed her small dog and got out the window,” Gamble said.

He said that’s exactly what fire departments recommends — shut the door and exit through a window.

Alaska State Troopers were the first to arrive on scene.

A passerby reported the fire and was still there tending to the elderly woman when troopers arrived, Gamble said.

“While we were in the process of fighting the fire, there were some things that we found that caused us to be concerned about how the fire started and possibly why the fire was started,” he said, referring questions about the specifics of just what was found to troopers and the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

He did say, though, that in addition to the fire in the house his crews found two other “starts” — a burned-up mattress and another fire set a short distance from the home.

Gamble said firefighters were able to get the fire knocked down within 45 minutes of arriving on scene.

“We got it knocked down and contained to probably 25, 30 percent of the structure,” he said.

There also was water and smoke damage to other parts of the house, Gamble said. The most badly burned parts of the home were the bedroom next to the woman’s bedroom and a living area in front of her door.

“We were able to save 60 to 70 percent of the building,” Gamble said.

In addition to West Lakes, firefighters from the Central Mat-Su and Houston fire departments responded.

Willow firefighters went on standby to cover the area in case something else needed attention.

The Red Cross also responded with volunteers to assist the woman with lodging and personal necessities.

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