Two businesses go up in smoke

April 3, 2005

KATE GOLDEN/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - A fire in a large building burned for hours before it was reported early Tuesday morning. Nobody was hurt, but two local business and people suffered heavy losses.

No one had been in the commercial building at 301 East Aspen Ave., a connector street between Wasilla-Fishhook Road and Lucille Street, since around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Around 1 a.m., a neighbor reported smoke was coming out of the roof.

Shortly afterward, firefighters arrived. Thirty-six people responded, including an engine and four firefighters from Meadow Lakes.

The three-suite, 60-by-200-foot building is largely garage space with small office areas.

"There was gray smoke pouring out of every little nook and cranny of the building," said Central Mat-Su Fire Chief Jack Krill Jr. Once the SCBA-clad firefighters forced entry, they could see nothing but thick smoke.

They used thermal-imaging cameras to locate the source of the fire, between the two rented spaces. And they laid 1,300 feet of 5-inch hose to reach the nearest fire hydrant.

"You talk about great saves," Krill said, noting that the damage to the wood-and-Sheetrock building, around $100,000, was a small fraction of its total value.

The structure still stands, and there was no significant damage to the surrounding area.

There were no sprinklers; they were not required by code. The building had smoke detectors, but these were not connected to a fire-alarm system to alert emergency responders.

Such systems cost $8,000 to $10,000 to install, Krill said.

Sandra Millhouse, sole proprietor of Hard Rock Designs, rented two of the three suites. The shop is fine; the showroom and office burned. Friday, two days after the fire, the nauseating smell of smoke permeated the building.

The company, which produces and installs exotic-rock countertops, kitchens and fireplaces, was insured. It's possible that the many sheets of granite and other rocks shelved in the showroom won't be salvageable, if the smell of smoke permeated them.

Millhouse said she won't have a verdict on the high-dollar materials until after fire inspectors and then a restoration service investigate.

But she said she'll be back on her feet soon, with a little help from her friends. Ray Kaiser, from Lakeview General, dropped off a 25-foot trailer the morning after the fire and sent an electrician to set up her phone line so Millhouse would have an office.

She said she feels blessed. "My shop's still running, and that's the part that makes the money. For me it could have been a lot worse."

Scott Harrison, who rented the other suite, lost his livelihood.

Harrison, a computer programmer, worked in the loft where the fire began. The fire burned 10 to 12 uninsured computers, including two SunSparc servers and the database program he'd been working on for the last six years, he said. "It's a really killer system. I finished it last week," he said.

He said he has only a partial backup of the system on a server in the Lower 48, and estimated the rebuild work would be "six months, 18 hours a day."

The Red Cross put up Harrison at the Lake Lucille Best Western, gave him a food-and-clothing allowance, and is helping him find a place to live.

The cause and source

of the fire are unknown. Both Tilton's and Millhouse's insurance companies have hired private fire investigators.

Contact Kate Golden at

352-2284 or kate.golden@

frontiersman.com.