Firefighters save 2 homes Tuesday

WASILLA — On the heels of helping a neighboring department douse a chimney fire, Central Mat-Su Fire Department crews were cleaning up equipment at their downtown station early Tuesday afternoon when one of them noticed smoke on the horizon.

“Randy just happened to step out of the station and saw black smoke and thought it’s unusual to see black smoke in downtown Wasilla,” Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said at the fire scene on Carpenter Circle. He was referring to Battalion Chief Randy Newcomb.

When Newcomb went to investigate, he found a fire burning in a garage. Back at the station, firefighters hopped back on their rigs and headed out. The first unit on scene reported hearing ammunition firing in the flames. Steele said that stopped when crews were able to put water on the fire and cool it down.

He said it wasn’t clear how the fire started, but it appeared to have begun in the garage. He said the fire was what firefighters call a “good save” with fire damaged mostly contained to the garage, but with smoke damage throughout the house.

As for the first fire, West Lakes Battalion Chief James Keel said that one was a chimney fire on Shampine Lane, which is off of Church Road.

The woman at the residence said she had started a fire in the fireplace to get some of the cold and dampness out of the air, in what Keel described as a “gorgeous” 3,500-square-foot, two-story home. Soon, she said she noticed the stovepipe glowing, so she shut the damper.

“She shut the damper down to clear it out and called her husband, and he told her just to wait,” Keel said. “She went back outside and it was redder. It was a good 10 or 15 minutes before she called 911.”

In that time, he said, the fire was able to spread into the eaves of the house. Crews were able to knock it down fast, though, spraying water from inside and outside the house.

Keel said there was quite a bit of creosote buildup in the pipe and reminded homeowners to have their chimneys cleaned regularly.

“It was a good save,” he said. “If it would have been during the middle of the night with no one around it would have been the full structure.”

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