Lazy Mountain home partially burned

PALMER — Firefighters managed to save a small home that caught fire on Lazy Mountain Wednesday.

“There was some smoke showing. I never did see any flames from the outside, I don’t know if the crews saw any flames from the inside,” Palmer Assistant Fire Chief Todd Russell said. “It wasn’t very big. It was confined to a bedroom.”

He said the bedroom burned, but “anywhere outside of the bedroom it looked to me like it was just smoke damage.”

The fire was reported at 10:30 a.m., in a 40-foot by 24-foot home with a basement on Goa Way off of Clark-Wolverine Road. Palmer Ambulance and Palmer firefighters responded with a Central Mat-Su ambulance showing up later to help with the tail end of the operation.

Russell said there was one man, the home’s owner, inside at the time.

“The male occupant inhaled some smoke, was transported to the hospital and as far as I know he was released yesterday afternoon,” Russell said Thursday.

Russell said the call for help came from a neighboring home, but he’s not sure whether the neighbor saw the fire and reported it or the homeowner went to his neighbor’s house to make the call.

There were also two dogs inside the home when it caught fire, the homeowner told fire crews.

“He said one got out, the other one was limping,” Russell said. “The crews managed to get her out of the house and she went into a kennel and just stayed there.”

Russell said that Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation showed up to take that dog to the shelter while its owner was away.

“We figured that with him in the hospital the dog should be cared for,” Russell said.

As for the other dog, Russell has no idea. As far as he knows, it’s still at large “unless the dog came back when animal control was there or showed up at a neighbor’s house.”

He said the fire marshal didn’t come out, nor did Alaska State Troopers, which usually indicates that the fire’s origins didn’t appear fishy to crews on scene.

Considering that the home is still standing and the damage was contained, Russell said he would consider it a good save.

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