Daycare burns again; arson suspected

WASILLA — For a second time in two years a daycare center off Bogard Road burned. And, for the second time, firefighters are calling the blaze suspicious.

“For there to be nothing and then all of a sudden the whole front end of the building on fire, that doesn’t make any sense,” said Central Mat-Su Assistant Chief Michael Keenan.

Crews were called to the boarded-up, vacant building that once housed the Children’s Academy Child Care Center on Leatherleaf Loop near Bogard Road shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

Keenan said that by the time they got there the building, or what was left of it, was fully involved.

Asked what part of the structure burned, he said, “What was left of the building.”

The first time the building was torched was in October 2006, when fire crews were called to respond there early one Saturday morning.

At that time, fire officials didn’t say much as to what exactly caused them to be suspicious of the blaze. But they said it was very suspect and opened an investigation.

Keenan said the first fire burned about half the building. Now, he said, there’s probably a quarter of the structure still standing.

Sunday’s fire drew a sizable response, bringing in 30 Central firefighters, two engines, five tankers and the department’s new aerial platform truck, which is capable of hoisting firefighters 100 feet off the ground.

Keenan said the nature of the blaze made it one on which a big stream of water, like the one that comes from the end of the aerial platform, was well-utilized.

He said firefighters were on scene until about 8 a.m., but toward the end were mainly waiting for the investigation to start.

“There were parts of the fire we didn’t want to touch until we got good pictures and stuff like that,” Keenan said.

They also had to wait for Enstar to come out and clamp off an underground gas line.

“The natural gas line that was left over from the last fire … burned through and melted so we had natural gas burning,” Keenan said.

Keenan said it was a little surreal to be called out to the same building for another suspicious fire. But, with the building sitting unused and damaged as long as it has, he said, he wasn’t surprised.

“It’s one of those things that you expect that someone’s going to light it again,” he said. “It’s just a target of opportunity for whatever reason.”

He said they knew the fire burned fast because the Wasilla Police Department had been on a traffic stop very near the building just 10 minutes prior and everything was fine. When they cleared the traffic call, it was police who noticed the fire. And it was burning big.

That the whole building was involved when firefighters arrived, Keenan said, points to some sort of accelerant being used.

The state Fire Marshal and Central’s own in-house fire marshals are investigating the blaze.

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