Gas siphoning leads to three burned buses at Christian school

WASILLA — An attempted theft turned into arson as buses used for student transport to and from sports burned up early Saturday morning. Wasilla Lake Christian School is moving quickly to secure transport for students, as their soccer teams will be needing travel as soon as July.

At 3:15 a.m., WPD got a call about a fire that had broken out in the parking lot of WLCS. The WPD was there by 3:22 a.m. along with the Fire Department, but could not prevent the fire from spreading. Security camera footage showed that one single male had siphoned gas from one bus, filling one container before returning with a second. An ignition happened, whether incidental or not, and the gas thief tried to extinguish it but had no luck stopping the fire from spreading to the leaked gasoline. The thief-turned-arsonist fled the scene prior to the arrival of the authorities.

The Fire Department prevented the fire from spreading to the nearby wooden shed and Wasilla Church of the Nazarene, inside of which is the school. The church was only four-to-five car lengths away from the three flaming buses, and the shed was only a few feet on the opposite side of the large yellow bus. Two smaller white buses were engulfed and a yellow bus burned near the rear end. Firefighters were able to establish a water curtain to protect exposure of the shed to the flames and reduce the heat. One of the smaller white buses had been gifted to the school last month at an extremely low price and had not even been used yet by students. The three buses were insured, and while the price of the loss is significant, it was the reliability of the vehicles that was so important to the school.

“They were paid for and maintained by our people, they did not have a high market value but now we have no way to transport our students,” said Cheralea Purcell.

The private Christian school of 110 students does not pick up students daily for transport to and from school, but takes its students to and from field trips and sporting events on the buses. The yellow bus was particularly reliable, according to Purcell. A new set of summer tires sat inside as it was engulfed in flames, and a new engine had just been installed. WLCS has to travel great distances to play other schools in it’s classification due to the small size. Students often stay multiple nights on the floors of schools or churches to play sports during the day and then take the bus back to the Valley.

Now the school is searching for replacements for the charred buses. WLCS is part of the Wasilla Church of the Nazarene, which was only four or five car lengths away from the burning buses, according to Purcell. Purcell says administration is rapidly acquiring leads on affordable and reliable transportation for next year, and have set up two ways to donate to the new buses. An account at Wells Fargo called “Wasilla Lake School Donations” has been set up. Anyone can walk in and donate to the account or those who bank with banks that use Zelle can do so online or through the app. WLCS will receive the full amount from the Wells Fargo account, and has also set up an online account with Gofundme at gf.me/u/izru6i

Purcell remains optimistic.

“We could have had fatalities or the building itself could have caught on fire. I’m grateful it wasn’t much worse,” said Purcell. “It’s limiting moving forward but it will work out.”

TALKEETNA FIRE

A fire was reported just after 3 p.m. on Monday by the Talkeetna Flight Service 40 miles northeast of Talkeetna, east of Prairie Creek. Monday’s reports of a 3-to-5 acre fire that threatened a lodge and two cabins on Stephan Lake have grown to approximately 33 acres as it moves 3 miles from the south edge of Stephan lake. Helicopters have begun shuttling in fire crews, as the entire Pioneer Peak Hotshot crew was on scene and the Gannett Glacier Hotshot crew was still being shuttled in as of Tuesday morning. Firefighters are working on cutting a saw line around the fire edges, which is expected to take until Friday, according to Division of Forestry Public Information Officer Tim Mowry. Mowry says that the area is still full of moisture with standing water in some areas and even snow in other areas.

“It’s not taking off and running. It’s pretty mellow,” said Mowry.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined. More structures lie northwest of the fire but none are in immediate danger according to Mowry. Hotshot crews cut landing zones for helicopters immediately, in case anyone gets hurt and needs medevaced.

“They’re really just trying to get what info they can get people on the ground. They get a good look at fire from the air and get a better size on it,” said Mowry.

Once both 20-man crews are on the ground working in cooperation with the two air tankers, it should be quickly contained, possibly out by the end of the week. Air tankers dropped four loads of retardant on Monday night to help contain the fire.