Unattended smoker causes apartment fire in Wasilla

WASILLA — Local firefighters quickly extinguished an apartment fire off East Susitna Avenue in downtown Wasilla Friday, June 3.

According to Mat-Su Borough Deputy Director of Fire Brian Davis, the cause of the fire was an unattended smoker. He said a resident was preparing food in the smoker and left it unattended on their back deck. Once free, the flames quickly spread to the attic.

“In most apartments, there’s rules against using smokers on the back deck for exactly this reason,” Davis said.

Mat-Su Central Fire Department responded to the fire during the late afternoon. Davis said they were assisted by West Lakes Fire, Palmer Fire, and Mat-Su Borough EMS.

Davis said it took about 45 minutes to get the fire under control. He said crews spent several hours ensuring that everything was extinguished.

“The crews did an outstanding job,” Davis said.

According to Davis, the fire was on the roof of the building, making it a particularly difficult challenge to undertake. The hot temperatures posed an additional challenge to responding crews. Davis said that firefighters had to rotate to cool down.

Time is always of the essence when it comes to putting out fires, but large building fires are problematic since there’s more fuel to burn and the flames can spread to more places.

“Fire, it grows very rapidly, so the faster we get notified and can get units there, the better chance we have of making a good stop and saving both lives that are affected and property damage,” Davis said.

There were no injuries, according to Davis. He said that 12 people were affected by the fire, and the American Red Cross was on the scene assisting displaced residents.

Davis urges the public to be cautious with any open flame since the current hot conditions are increasing the overall fire danger across the Valley.

“Right now it doesn’t really take much to get a fire started and have it take off on us,” Davis said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com