Firefighters contain blazes over weekend

MAT-SU -- Central Mat-Su firefighters were able to avert a disaster and save a residence Sunday morning after what officials suspect was an electrical fire started in the garage, Mat-Su Fire Chief Jack Krill said Monday.

The fire was contained and stopped in the kitchen, and fire officials reported no injuries.

At approximately 7:30 a.m. Sunday, neighbors on their way to church saw smoke coming from the garage of Edward Tatro's residence at 305 N. Harriet St. near Wasilla.

Tatro and his wife were asleep in their house when neighbors woke them. The Tatros had smoke detectors but they did not go off, Krill said.

"It's a problem we run into pretty often, smoke detectors are either not there, disabled or unplugged," Krill said. "In this case, if the neighbor hadn't woke them up, it would've been a lot worse."

A total of 35 firefighters responded from Central Mat-Su Fire Department, Palmer and Meadow Lakes, with three fire engines and three water tankers.

Krill said that nearly all of the contents of the house were salvageable and only the garage was seriously damaged by the fire.

As the winter season continues, there are generally more house fires in the Mat-Su, Krill said, most of which are caused by heating.

Several hours after containing and stopping the fire on Harriet Street, Central Mat-Su firefighters responded to a cabin fire off Hollywood and Vine.

The blaze began when a wood stove was stoked too hot and due to lack of clearance caught the wall on fire, Krill said.

After putting out the fire, firefighters gave residents a smoke detector for the cabin.

"We're running out of smoke detectors," Krill said. "We're handing out more and more as we go to houses that don't have them or don't have enough. We were just lucky [Sunday] that we were able to stop the fires and people were able to get out in time."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.