Willow musher's future uncertain after fire

WILLOW — A dog-mushing family here struggled to reckon their loss after an apparently accidental house fire leveled their residence and family business Friday.

The fire likely started in a shop adjacent to the residence before fully engulfing both the shop and the living quarters on Serenity Drive about 11:30 a.m. Emergency responders from the Willow, Houston, West Lakes and Caswell fire departments responded to find both structures engulfed, said Willow and Caswell fire chief Mahlon Greene.

“Even dispatch said, when it was called in, it was fully involved,” he said.

None of the 24 dogs on the property at the time the fire started were injured, according to Justin High, husband of Jaimee High, who owned the dogs and was preparing for the 2015 Iditarod race. The dogs used for mushing are temporarily living with other mushers.

Six chickens perished in the blaze, and a few others had singed feathers, Greene said.

“We were able to douse the flames pretty quickly,” he said.

High came in 43rd in the 2012 Iditarod. The couple operated High’s Adventure, a business manufacturing and selling harnesses and other sled dog-racing gear.

Authorities suspect a wood-barrel stove’s chimney or a substance in it either ignited the workshop roof or something in the shop area that may have been too close to the fire, Greene said.

The magnitude of the loss was enormous, Justin High said.

“It’s really numbing,” he said. “We keep thinking of things we lost.”

The couple built the house there in 2012, and moved in together about a month before they their wedding that fall, Justin said.

“We built it as we were getting married and it has a lot of memories,” he said. “Everything we accumulated over the years is gone.”

Jaimee’s Facebook status update offers a partial list: a wedding ring, a wedding cake topper, an heirloom mink coat and heirloom firearm, the ashes of a beloved dog.

“It’s gone, all of it gone,” she wrote.

For now, the pair is living in an apartment at Justin’s day job. They don’t yet know how the fire will affect Jaimee’s chances of participating in the March sled dog race, Justin said.

“We haven’t really answered those questions yet,” he said. “We’re going to take it day by day. If she doesn’t think she can participate, she will make that decision.”

A GoFundMe page had raised $13,655 by about 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon, of a listed goal of $50,000. The page’s address is gofundme.com/j40wdc.

Community volunteers were working to set up additional locations for people to drop checks, money, or gift cards. A few had been established by Friday night: Chandra McCain was collecting from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Wasilla Wal-Mart, and plans to collect Monday at the Wasilla Fred Meyer from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Kathy Cappas was available to collect donations and reachable via e-mail at Kathy@thecappas.com.

The fire is the second tragedy to strike a Mat-Su dog musher registered to participate in this year’s race. A car struck musher Karin Hendrickson of Talkeetna while she was practicing with her dogs Nov. 25. Hendrickson’s dogs will participate but in front of a different musher.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.