Valley resident helps organize Horseshoe Lake’s Firewise program, the first in the state

WASILLA — Out of the ashes of the Miller’s Reach Fire came a few things for Bill and Cathi Kramer: a rebuilt home, a stronger sense of community — and for Cathi — the impetus for a new program to help property owners prepare for future wildland fires.

The Kramers — then living in Anchorage — were preparing to make their Horseshoe Lake property a permanent home when the fire started on June 2, 1996. They had already moved some belongings out to the house from Anchorage, and Bill headed to the Valley to grab some family photos and take pictures of the items in the home.

Three days later, a Wednesday, the house was gone, Cathi said.

“I was working at Klatt Elementary School in Anchorage and it was Wednesday, June 5, which was our last day with students,” she said in an email. “We were having our field day and my husband was at the school volunteering with our oldest son’s kindergarten classroom when we received a phone call from friends who were listening to (radio station) KMBQ. A neighbor from the lake who had evacuated in a boat called Chas St. George who was broadcasting live and he told Chas that our home was fully engulfed in flames and then proceeded to tell of the next two properties which also burned.”

Kramer said once they surveyed the scene a few days later, both she and Bill knew what was next.

“We were able to get back to the property on Sunday. It was like a moonscape,” she said. “Our children looked down the driveway and there were two birch trees on the lakeside that held a tire swing. They were 2, 4 and 6 years old then, and they said ‘it’s OK, the tire swing is still there!”

“My husband and I looked at each other and I think we knew at that moment... We would rebuild. We cleared the seven acres of burned black spruce with the help of many friends and the house debris. The rebuild started in September of 1996. The home was built under a tent that winter.”

They would eventually get into the rebuilt home in the fall of 1997 after living in a 21-foot camp trailer.

Kramer said in an attempt to meet neighbors and “pull the lake back together,” after 35 structures were lost in the area, she started a community directory, which had emergency contact information and addresses. At first, some 20 names made up the stapled copy. Today, that list numbers 150.

She said representatives from the Mat-Su Borough heard about the recovery effort and invited the group to a meeting that featured information on the national Firewise program, a relatively new organization.

Started in 1986, the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise Communities program advances wildfire safety by involving homeowners, community and government leaders, firefighters and others in an effort to mitigate wildfire risks. Creating defensible spaces around homes, clearing underbrush and compiling evacuation plans are a few of the program’s goals.

“There were 12 communities in the United States (in 1996) and they were looking to start a community in Alaska,” Kramer said. She was approached to help with getting the Horseshoe Lake program off the ground.

“From there I worked with forestry and the local fire department to complete the required paperwork. A Community Wildfire Protection Plan was written —the first in Alaska —and the community held its first Firewise event which was required in order to be considered,” she said. “ Ten years after the Miller’s Reach fire a commemoration event was held at the library and we received a plaque and signage making us the first Firewise Community in Alaska.”

Today, the Firewise program can be found in some 1,200 communities in more than 40 states. Other participating Alaska communities include Ester and McCarthy as well as another group in Big Lake, Kramer said.

Kramer said the group is required to hold a Firewise Day event every year and track volunteer hours.

“Residents track and record efforts on their personal property that help to create defensible space and make their homes more Firewise,” she said. “The community has tracked over $830,000 in volunteer efforts since its beginning just 11 years ago.”

The Horseshoe Lake group’s annual “chipping day” is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Residents typically place cleared brush at the end of driveways along Horseshoe Lake Road, where the piles are collected and run through a chipper. A pizza party flotilla on the lake will follow at 6 p.m.

“The area has come together as a community that works together,” Kramer said. “Neighbors helping neighbors and taking pride in how the community now looks.”