losing

it all

March 4, 2007

BY DIMITRA LAVRAKAS

Frontiersman

They couldn't sleep, so Clarence Wise and his partner Verna Wisecarver were up at 4 a.m. on Feb. 22 playing games on the computer. Then all hell broke loose.

&#8220I heard him screaming and turned around and he was throwing water at the ceiling,” said Wisecarver.

The fire was around the wood stove, and Wise said it was coming across the ceiling.

&#8220There was ceiling material coming down,” said Wise.

He tried to use a chain saw to cut through the water pipes that run through the ceiling, but it just fueled the flames, he said.

&#8220I burnt my hands pretty badly,” he said. &#8220Then I fell on my back and thought, ‘no way, will I get out of this house alive if I don't leave.'”

Within what she estimates was about 45 seconds, Wisecarver snatched their two children, Leah, 3, and Angelica, 8, out of their beds, threw on their coats, and ran out of the burning house.

She put the children and their Saint Bernard in the car and moved it out of the way of what they thought would be fire trucks coming to the rescue.

But because the home was up an icy hill, the heavy water trucks couldn't make it up for an hour until after a sand truck prepared the driveway, Wise said.

Their home burned to the ground and with it, everything they owned.

&#8220It was either a hot coal came out of the stove or it was a chimney fire,” Wise said. &#8220When the smoke alarm went off, one-half of the house was already up.”

They were in the process of buying it, and they had it all fixed up the way they wanted it, said Wise, who is not working because of asthma and pulmonary disease.

The Red Cross has helped out with food, clothing, soap and shampoo. They've moved in with his father for the time being.

Families and staff at Finger Lakes School have also donated clothing for the children.

The basics are being taken care of, but there are other needs to be met.

They've noticed behavioral changes in Leah.

&#8220She's not been listening ever since this happened,” said Wise. &#8220She said the other day, ‘I want to go home.' She doesn't understand what happened.”

An account has been set up for the family a Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union under the name Wisecarver. Or, if people want to donate building materials, they can call Wisecarver at

715-4830.

Contact Dimitra Lavrakas at 352-2269 or

valleylife@frontiersman.com