Helwig, Willow begin rebuild effort

WILLOW — Amid the rubble of this kennel blooms a single marigold, a phoenix reborn here through the kindness of strangers.

Similar potted flowers on new green plant stands — along with gallons of drinking water — greeted many Willow residents returning to homes touched by the fire Wednesday.

While the identities of the “Marigold Fairies” are unknown, the splash of color and water are warm examples of the countless acts of kindness Alaskans have showered on their Willow neighbors during the ongoing Sockeye fire response and recovery.

So much so, relief organizations like the Red Cross and Salvation Army are overwhelmed with pallets of bottled water, Gatorade, clothing donations, etc., and are calling for a switch to cash donations.

Musher Mary Helwig is one of 55 Willow residents who lost homes in the Sockeye fire. Like the others, she is just beginning the months-long process to clear the ash, charred trees and rubble from her lot and rebuild.

It’s too soon to know much about what she — or anyone — needs, Helwig said, seconding the words of Willow resident Carrie Smoldon, spoken at a community meeting at Houston Middle School June 17.

“In two weeks, two months — remember us then,” Smoldon said. “We’re so grateful for the support from the entire state. Thank you for your generosity, but please just give us some time.”

Helwig was reading a book on her front lawn, enjoying a sunny Sunday when a text message from a neighbor interrupted: A forest fire was rapidly headed toward their location at Mile 72.5, Parks Highway.

She quickly packed food for her five dogs and small a suitcase of clothes for herself. After that, Helwig said, she wasn’t sure what to take.

“You want to take everything, but you know you can’t,” she said.

Shades of gray

Helwig grabbed her bluebird of happiness figurine, some expensive harnesses, her good parka, some furs and a few other random things and headed to Bacon’s Acres Kennel in Big Lake, where musher Kristin Bacon said she could shelter herself and her team during the fire.

She said she kicked herself for not grabbing her dog sled, though.

The fire burned too hot to salvage anything from the remains of her home beyond a few dog dishes, she said. And her dog sled was still intact — if it hadn’t been parked in the yard since last season, it would have burned up with the garage, Helwig said.

“You really don’t think this is going to happen,” she said, standing amid the rubble. “I was expecting to come home to everything.”

The cute house with the blue metal roof Helwig purchased in August 2014 is now a pile of ash and buckled sheet metal, clad in shades of gray. Her garage and the SUV inside burned, too. The four-wheeler parked in the yard that she was so excited to buy is now a gray metal frame on wheels.

Desperate for information about their home, Helwig said her neighbors Justin and Jaimee High found a way back into the neighborhood. They lost their home in a December 2014 house fire and wanted to know if anything remained. Their rebuild house burned, as did the Conex they were living in, and DeeDee Jonrowe’s house on the same lot, and Helwig’s house through the trees next door.

“I’m just glad I didn’t see it burning,” Helwig said.

Watching the Highs’ house burn in December was so emotional, she said she can’t imagine the pain of witnessing the fire that destroyed her home.

Helwig says she’s a Christian and was brought up in a family that practices laughter as the best medicine.

It just needs a spot of paint, Helwig joked to her parents, Nancy and David Helwig, up from California to lend support.

Her attitude’s been great, mom Nancy says.

“She’s gotten more emotional over the thoughtfulness of others than over what she’s lost,” she said.

Helwig concurred. The kindness offered after the fire has been more overwhelming than all that was lost in the fire, she said.

‘Helping each other is just what we do’

The wildfire started about 1:15 p.m., June 14 off Sockeye Avenue near Mile 77.5, Parks Highway. A few hours later, their neighborhood five miles away was in flames, Helwig said.

The Sockeye fire is now 94 percent contained with a burn area that is estimated at 7,220-acres, which includes 337 properties with structures. Of those, 55 homes were destroyed in the fire and 44 more properties had major damage to outbuildings. The other 238 homes in the fire area were saved, according to a Mat-Su Borough assessment completed this week.

Ash fell on her truck as she drove away from her house, Helwig said. Fortunately, her 21 dogs are away working this summer — some with Ryan Redington, doing tours with Alaska Excursions in Skagway this summer and the rest with Matt Failor in Juneau — and won’t be back until September. That left just five dogs for Helwig to load into her trailer and evacuate to Big Lake.

As soon as her dogs were out of the truck, Helwig received word that a neighbor across the road had evacuated to Long Lake and needed rescue. So Helwig and musher Alan Eischens headed back toward Willow where they talked their way through an Alaska State Trooper to reach the 80 dogs and three mushers stranded on Long Lake Road.

“Helping each other is just what we do,” Eischens said.

Willow musher Lisbet Norris already had her 40-dog kennel staked at her family’s Underdog Feeds store when a couple hundred more dogs also were evacuated there during the fire, Helwig said.

Helwig said she was at Underdog Feeds in Meadow Lakes helping until about 4 a.m., that Monday morning helping settle in the dogs, which kept her mind off what the fire might be doing to her place, she said.

Helwig said there are at least 15 sled dog kennels in her neighborhood from Mile 72 to 75 on the Parks. An estimated 500 or more sled dogs were evacuated from the fire area, mainly to Happy Trails Kennel in Big Lake and Underdog Feeds.

Celebrating with you

The last dozen days have been an emotional rollercoaster, Helwig said. Early Monday she thought her house was OK and her neighbor’s home had burned. A few hours later, she found out it was her house that burned.

It took a day or so to process that information before Helwig asked a couple of close friends to go with her for emotional support to look at the damage to her home.

Helwig said her body began to shake and her anxiety increased as they turned in to her neighborhood. But the experience wasn’t as overwhelming as she thought, Helwig said. She didn’t end up in the fetal position on the ground like she’d feared, she said.

For people whose homes survived, know that Willow residents like Helwig are thrilled your homes are intact.

“We’re celebrating with you that your house is OK,” Helwig said.

She said she is sad her home is gone, but thrilled her community survived.

Some basic homeowners and auto insurance will help Helwig rebuild her home, garage and a couple of vehicles that burned. But she said she knows many neighbors were building out of pocket and were not insured, Helwig said.

Also unknown is how the fire will impact the 2016 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The annual Iditarod volunteer picnic and musher signup event is at noon, June 27 at the Iditarod Headquarters, Knik-Goose Bay Road, Wasilla. Helwig will be there with her entry fee and application ready to enter her rookie Iditarod in 2016, she said.

Although she said she is re-writing her race biography to include the impact of the Sockeye fire on her kennel.

“It happened,” Helwig said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

For now, debris removal is underway. The plan is to have a garage with living quarters atop built by the time the rest of her 21 dogs and four puppies return home in September.

During his stay, her father, David Helwig, created a spreadsheet to help catalog the lost contents of the home as she remembers them. She’s going from room to room in her head adding lost property to the tally, she said.

But until Helwig and the rest of the Willow area residents touched by the Sockeye fire know exactly what they need, she said donations of cash or gift certificates are preferred.

Personally, prayers also are appreciated, Helwig said. She said she thinks those prayers have helped her keep her chin up through this loss.

“I’ve really been experiencing God’s peace beyond understanding,” Helwig said. “With his help, I can handle a lot more than I thought.”

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersmawn.com.