Family loses home, clothes

November 1, 2005

MARY AMES/Frontiersman reporter

SHEEP CREEK LODGE -A family of five lost everything but the clothes they were wearing Saturday night when a grease fire started on the Coleman stove they were using for cooking.

According to Nancy Hall, with the American Red Cross in Wasilla, the family was living in one of 15 waterless log cabins behind Sheep Creek Lodge. They had bought some land in the area, moved up from Anchorage and were staying in the cabin temporarily, she said.

The two boys, ages 7 and 9, and an 11-year-old girl got out of the cabin with the pajamas they were wearing but no shoes, Hall said. The parents had just cashed their PFD checks and because they had no bank accounts the money was in the pockets of their jackets, which were lost in the fire.

There was no record of the fire, according to Jack Krill Jr., chief of Central Mat-Su Fire Department, because the location is out of a fire service area.

Hall said the family also lost their transportation, as their van and an older Honda burned. The Honda, Hall said, had just been purchased as a birthday present for the mother on Thursday and she hadn't driven it yet.

Talkeetna Red Cross volunteers put the family up at Sheep Creek Lodge on Saturday night, Hall said. Sunday, the Wasilla Red Cross issued them a debit card for one week's worth of food for five people, clothes and shoes for five and, as with most relief in Alaska, winter clothes such as hats, coats and boots for five.

In the last eight days, the American Red Cross in Anchorage and in the Valley has responded to eight fire calls with a total of 18 victims, Hall said.

&#8220Everyone heard about hurricanes Katrina and Wilma,” Hall said. &#8220But we have a lot of victims and disasters here. The help we give only comes from donations.”

The Sheep Creek Lodge lies between Willow and Talkeetna fire service areas, Krill said. The south border of the gap is at Mile 80.6 of the Parks Highway and the northern border is at Mile 96. Krill said another location that is developing rapidly, but out of a fire service area, is Point MacKenzie. From Mile 6 on, Point MacKenzie Road is without protection, he said.

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.