Three fires in one day scorch area homes

WASILLA — It was a busy Wednesday for Mat-Su firefighters with three house fires in the course of the day.

When the smoke had cleared and the flames were extinguished, no one was hurt and two homes were saved from complete destruction. But two birds and at least one cat had died.

On scene of the third fire Wednesday afternoon, firefighters in sooty turnout gear from the Big Lake, Meadow Lakes, Willow, Central Mat-Su and Houston Fire Departments offered phrases like, “good save” and “by the book,” when talking about the day’s work.

The first fire was in the Big Lake Fire Department’s service area, in a trailer home off Emil Drive.

“The lady woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning, she added wood to her wood stove and went back to sleep,” Big Lake Fire Chief Bill Gamble said.

Some hours later her dogs woke her up.

“They were actually jumping on her while she was asleep,” Gamble said.

When she awoke, the trailer was filled with smoke.

“She was lucky to get out of the trailer alive,” Gamble said.

Of the three fires Wednesday, it was the only home firefighters could not save. The trailer was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on scene, Gamble said. The first pet bird to die that day died in the trailer.

The second call was also in the Big Lake area and came while firefighters were still on scene of the trailer fire — chimney fire off Musk Ox Street.

“Fortunately we had already released one Central unit,” and thus firefighers were on scene in moments, Gamble said.

That fire was the first “good save” of the day — Gamble said the fire was contained before it was able to spread from the chimney into the rest of the structure.

On scene there, pagers went off for the day’s third fire, off Johnson Road.

“This had the potential to burn to the ground,” Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said while standing outside the unfinished home that was the third to burn.

He said the fire was definitely electrical and though he has his suspicions as to where exactly it started he was unable to say for sure.

The woman who lived there said she’d noticed the light in the home was brighter than normal. And it was coming from behind the TV stand. That’s when she noticed the fire.

The woman and her child made it out of the house fine, Steele said, but there was one brief moment of tension when he asked her if there was anyone left inside.

“She said, ‘Baby’s not out yet,’” and his heart jumped, Steele recounted.

But “Baby” was apparently the name of her pet bird, he said — the second winged pet to die that day.

He said firefighters also found the remains of a deceased house cat. Two more were, as of 2 p.m., unaccounted for.

Standing in the ruined living room, Steele pointed out a partially melted telephone, a door warped by the heat, the walls torn out to douse the blaze.

“This was just ready to torch,” he said, sweeping his arms to take in the blackened ceiling and walls.

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