Neighbor saves man sleeping in burning home

MAT-SU — Fire crews from Palmer and Mat-Su Central fire departments descended on a fire in a two-story house with an attached hangar on Hart Lake Loop near the Wolf Lake airstrip Friday afternoon.

The residence, which was in the final stages of construction and still had the stickers on its windows, was fully engulfed when neighbor Hal Ward arrived home.

“I pulled in the driveway and this is what it looked like,” Ward said, holding up his iPhone to show a picture of the entire roof on fire.

“I ran over to wake him up (the owner) because he was sleeping in a trailer in the hangar,” Ward said. “Then I had my wife call 911.”

Ward said there also was a man running a road grader on the runway who saw the flames through the trees and came running.

Crews began arriving on scene shortly after the call dispatched around 3:05 p.m. The initial size up of the blaze estimated that well over two-thirds of the house was involved. Within 10 to 15 minutes crews had the fire under control, but by then most of the second floor had been destroyed.

Contact Robert DeBerry at robert.deberry@frontiersman.com or 352-2266.