Fast-acting neighbors save Wasilla man from house fire

WASILLA — Barbara King is counting her blessings.

Her husband and her two kids are living in a hotel. Their house was nearly destroyed Tuesday, but there’s still plenty to be grateful for.

“We’re just very fortunate that no one was killed and that the neighbors were nice enough to let us know what was going on,” King said.

The fire began shortly after 1 p.m. Bill Noble, King’s next-door neighbor on Finch Road in Meadow Lakes, tells the story.

“I was actually in my garage working on some motorcycles,” Noble said. “I heard a truck pull up outside.”

He was on the phone with a buddy at the time. He peaked through a garage window. It seemed like there was some commotion so he moved into the living room to get a better look.

“I yelled at my buddy on the phone, ‘my neighbor’s house is on fire, I’ve got to go,’” he said.

He grabbed two extinguishers from his kitchen and a third from his truck — Noble is a tow-truck driver — and dashed over to the house. The guy in the pickup that pulled up was another of his neighbors, Jerry Morgan. Noble said he handed the two smaller extinguishers to Morgan and went after the fire with the larger of the three.

“We tried to knock the fire out. It was pretty futile,” Noble said.

The wind was driving it. Noble said he knows the Kings’ schedule pretty good so he thought it was a safe bet that Barbara’s husband, Craig, was still inside. Probably sleeping.

At around this time, King, who works in Anchorage, said she got a call from one of her neighbors saying her house was on fire.

“You’re kind of in disbelief when someone calls you at work and tells you something like that,” she said

But she quickly realized it wasn’t a prank. She asked the neighbor if anyone had called 911 and was told nobody had. So she quickly hung up so she could make the call.

“My husband is asleep in the house, as far as I know,” King said.

Noble said that before he made it outside Morgan had already pounded on the doors. Apparently, that roused Craig King because while Noble and Morgan were futilely fighting the blaze, he walked out.

Noble said he called 911 again, just to be double sure firefighters knew to respond. “They said someone was on the way. I said, ‘well if you don’t get here soon it’s going to be fully involved.’”

Right about here is where help arrived. Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said he was one of the first on scene. He was right behind the ambulance.

“The wind when I got there was literally pushing the fire through the attic,” Steele said. “It burned off about a third of the roof, but we were able to get crews inside the house and on the roof and stop the fire. But it damaged the garage, kitchen and part of the living room.”

Steele said he was able to determine the fire started in a pile of discarded fireplace ashes. And he said it wasn’t the first time he’d seen a fire start that way.

“If you’re going to take ashes and dump them outside, (it’s best) to have a good, cleared area where you put them out, and if you’ve got some water just pour some water on them to make sure they’re out,” Steele said.

He said in the past week and a half his department has responded to three fires where the wind severely complicated firefighting efforts.

The first was Feb. 28 on Leatherleaf Loop. The next came March 3 on Hollow Nook Drive in the Pittman Road area. Despite the wind, he said, borough firefighters were able to get them all put out before the structures were completely destroyed.

“All of them were really good stops,” he said.

As for the Kings, Barbara actually didn’t have much time to talk. She was meeting with the insurance company Thursday afternoon. But she said she wanted to extend a big thank you to the emergency responders, her neighbors and the Mat-Su chapter of the American Red Cross, which put them up in the hotel.

“They make sure that you have a warm place to stay at night,” King said. “I am just every impressed.”

As for Noble, he said that Morgan was the hero here.

“I’m pretty sure if Jerry hadn’t woke him up (Craig King) probably would have had smoke inhalation,” Noble said. “I seriously think he saved his life.”

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