Fire guts local home

WASILLA — Fire destroyed most of a home on Sailor’s Loop near Mile 7 Knik-Goose Bay Road Wednesday, with firefighters declaring the structure a total loss.

“Insurance will total it out,” predicted Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele.

Nobody was home when the fire started — Steele said the homeowner called dispatchers as crews responded to report she’d left that morning, as had her boyfriend. Initial calls shortly before 1 p.m. to respond to the fire said the home was fully involved.

Steele said when the first firefighters arrived flames were visible throughout 70 percent of the home. The homeowner, watching firefighters do their work in the backyard, declined comment. An estimate on the home’s value and the damage done was not available at press time Thursday.

Steele said the fire was fought mostly defensively from the outside. One crew went in, but was quickly pulled back.

“We ended up pulling the crew out because it was in the crawl space under them and above them,” Steele said of the flames.

As far as house fires go, Steele said he was surprised at how hot the fire was burning in the crawl space.

“There was massive fire down there,” he said.

Once the flames were out, he said investigators would take a look down there to see why that was.

Fire crews responded from Big Lake, Meadow Lakes and Central.