House fire kills 2, one man escapes

SUTTON — Two people died in a residential house fire early Friday morning.

Alaska State Troopers say a fully engulfed house fire was reported on McPherson Avenue in Sutton around 1:05 a.m., May 9.

As of press time, troopers had not identified the two people found dead. A third person, a 46-year-old Sutton man, narrowly escaped, troopers say. He told them he woke up at 1 a.m. to a horrific scene.

“He opened the door to his bedroom and saw that the residence was filled with thick black smoke. The man crawled to the front door and was able to exit the home. He was able to call for help at a neighbor’s residence,” according to the trooper press release.

Phil Blydenburgh, assistant chief of the Sutton Fire Department said that the fire was raging when firefighters arrived.

“We showed up it was basically fully involved with fire showing from all four sides of the structure, fire coming out all the front windows, the front door, out of both eaves,” he said. “When we pulled up on the road with the engine crew, the driveway is probably a 50- maybe 60-foot-long driveway, and I could already feel the heat.”

Blydenburgh said that his Sutton crew was first on scene, then a crew arrived from the Palmer Fire Department. He also received help from Butte Fire Department.

“It was obvious when we pulled up that if there was anyone in there they were not going to survive the amount of heat that was in there,” he said.

Still, they tried to find any way in they could. They looked at windows, and at maybe pulling the back door open, just in case someone was right there and could be pulled out. But the fire was too hot.

“There was nothing you could do to even get close to the windows, even with our protective gear,” Blydenburgh said.

All they could do, he said, was keep the fire from spreading. A brushfire was starting on one side of the structure, threatening a neighboring home, and there were cars and outbuildings at risk. Blydenburgh said he concentrated suppression efforts on

those.

Once there was a tanker on scene and a water supply was established, Blydenburgh said crews were able to extinguish the fire.

“The building was pretty much a skeletal structure at that point,” he said.

Even then, though, he said firefighters had to be careful. The floor was burned through, along with most of the walls. Trusses were destroyed, too.

“I’m not going to, at this point, risk the lives of my firefighters,” he said. “I don’t want someone going through a floor and being put into a rescue situation.”

He said once they were able to go in safely, firefighters found one victim near the front of the home and one near the rear. He declined to say more, citing an ongoing investigation.

Troopers say the State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause and circumstances of the fire.

Sutton is a small department that doesn’t fight many structure fires. Still, though, Blydenburgh said the department has a lot of well-trained and seasoned personnel. This kind of fire isn’t what you like to see, but the department knows how to cope.

“It’s not the best outcome or the outcome that anyone would hope for,” he said. “But everyone’s doing OK.”

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