Explosion leads to fire, leaves man displaced

WASILLA — Firefighters spent the lion’s share of Thursday afternoon fighting a losing battle against a blaze at a home in the Knik-Goose Bay Road area.

The fire at 2341 Tundra Rose Dr. was reported sometime after 1 p.m. Tundra Rose is off of Clapp Street. Central Mat-Su Deputy Fire Chief Michael Keenan said the house was a single-story, single-family home with a large attached garage.

“I was very close, I got there first and the entire garage was fully involved in fire,” said Central Mat-Su Deputy Fire Chief Michael Keenan.

He said the cause of the blaze is under investigation, but it started in the garage with an explosion. Keenan said the man who lives there and his friend were in the kitchen when they heard the blast. Luckily, both escaped unharmed.

The Red Cross’ Mat-Su District press release said that the owner was staying with his brother nearby. Red Cross helped him out with food, winter clothes and shoes and gave him a referral to the Turn A Leaf thrift store.

Following the explosion, the house started burning. Keenan described the fire as very intense and fueled by flammable stuff that was in the house and garage.

“We had some vehicles burning,” he said. “He had, like, a welding shop in his basement and he had a lot of hydrocarbons stored down there.”

Keenan said fire crews managed to pull all of the welding acetylene out of the house. The hydrocarbons he referred to were things like motor oil and paint. Firefighters were on scene until around 6 p.m. Keenan said that it was a very tough fire to fight.

“We’d get it knocked down and then the fire went into the basement, but we couldn’t get into that basement safely,” Keenan said.

Which meant firefighters had to fight the flames defensively — to keep them from spreading — rather than aggressively by actively working to put them out. By the time it was all over, the house was on the ground.

“We just had to let it burn,” Keenan said.

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