Fire reminds us we are stronger together

That smell. The color of the sunlight percolated through smoke. The wing beats of helicopters and the shriek of sirens filled the air in Willow Sunday.

We remember a very similar day June 2, 1996, when the Miller’s Reach Fire sparked to life. Pushed by high winds and fueled by low humidity, that fire consumed more than 37,000 acres of the Mat-Su Borough, including 344 structures.

At a press conference Monday, Tom Kurth, Division of Forestry fire program manager, drew his own comparisons between the Sockeye Fire and the Miller’s Reach Fire. He said fire conditions in the Valley also are similar between this fire and the one the Valley survived in 1996.

Fire crowning, jumping 100 to 200 feet from tree to tree as black spruce exploded into flames along the fire’s path. It advanced 7 miles in one day, Kurth said.

Managing editor Heather A. Resz worked in the Frontiersman newsroom during the Miller’s Reach Fire and was on scene in Willow yesterday. She was among those evacuated from the Willow Community Center Sunday afternoon when the fire pushed south, prompting the Red Cross to relocate the shelter to Houston Middle School.

The cloud of smoke over the middle school, the displaced people and pets in the parking lot and the community’s rapid response to offer assistance to their neighbors were all familiar from covering the Miller’s Reach Fire 19 years ago.

We are beginning to hear reports and see friends’ and neighbors’ photos and stories about their homes and kennels lost in the fire. Thus far, injuries are limited to a firefighter who was treated for heat exhaustion.

Hundreds of people and more pets have been displaced by the fire. Some have sought refuge in two Red Cross shelters set up at Houston Middle School and on the other side of the fire area at the Upper Susitna Senior Center. Judging from the numbers of people registered at shelters, it seems many of the dislocated have found shelter with friends and family instead.

Sunday night, 125 people signed in at Upper Susitna Senior Center near Talkeetna, 25 people signed in at Houston Middle School, and 24 people were at Willow Community Center, which was relocated to Houston shortly after opening.

Emergency Services has done excellent work keeping the public informed, evacuating the area and protecting public assets like the Willow Community Center from the fire. There is much to suggest that this forest fire response is informed by the lessons from the Miller’s Reach Fire. During that inferno, emergency responders discovered their radios didn’t have a common frequency and they could not communicate directly with each other as needed.

Facebook and the Internet also now offer the public snippets of real-time information about the fire. The community has set up a “Sockeye Willow Fire and Pet Home Resource Finder” to help connect people with needed resources.

Two crowd-source funding pages also have been created to help Willow rebuild. Donate online to a GoFundMe page to “Help Our Mushers Rebuild Dog Lots” at gofundme.com/x22v98, or to the Willow Dog Mushers Association’s page “Help Willow Mushers Rebuild” on YouCaring, bit.ly/1FYdqir.

The fire is not contained. Temperatures are hot and dry and the wind isn’t helping firefighters control the Sockeye Fire. None of us knows how this plays out — how many acres will burn, how many structures destroyed.

In all of this uncertainty, one thing is sure: WE will help each other rebuild. WE will work together to make sure everyone has shelter by winter, no matter what it takes.

Days like these remind us all we are stronger together. That there are no obstacles we can’t overcome when we unite as a community.