Wind lashes Valley, fuels fire worries

MAT-SU — With high winds predicted to taper off today, Valley residents are hoping for a return to calmer winter weather after a weekend of smashed property, flipped planes and narrowly averted wildfires.

Two wind-related incidents on Friday smashed up cars. The first was in Palmer on Evergreen Avenue in the wee hours of the morning. Wind pulling on plastic sheeting slid heavy debris — possibly a cinder block — off of a business’ roof. The debris put a hole in the car’s roof.

“Some poor individual was just parked in the wrong spot,” said Cmdr. Lance Ketterling with the Palmer Police Department.

Police estimate damage to the car at more than $5,000.

The second came at Mile 7, Palmer-Wasilla Highway. At 11:10 a.m., a light pole fell and hit a moving vehicle. A toddler in the vehicle suffered minor injuries from shattered glass and was taken to the hospital, according to Alaska State Troopers.

“The winds were raging at the time,” AST spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

A photo emailed to the Frontiersman during the wind storm that started late last week also showed a semi truck on its side near the intersection of the Glenn Highway and Palmer-Fishhook Thursday.

Monday a plane flipped onto its wings at the Wasilla Airport, but that was the only damage at the airport, said Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright. He said another plane bounced pretty aggressively on its tie-down, but didn’t flip.

“Those planes are nothing but a kite with a little motor in it, when you think about it,” he said.

Meanwhile, warm weather also has Iditarod organizers wondering if this year’s race will be able to re-start from Willow Lake as planned.

“On Feb. 17, a decision will be made whether the re-start will be staged in Willow or in Fairbanks,” race spokeswoman Julie Busch wrote in an email. The email cites possibly unacceptable trail conditions from the top of Rainy Pass to Nikolai as the main area for concern.

Warm weather also is contributing to heightened fire danger and hindering efforts to fight fires. Firefighters battling a house fire in Palmer Sunday wound up needing to call in extra responders to tamp down spot fires as wind scattered embers to nearby trees. A fuller account of the fire is related in a separate Frontiersman story.

Worrying about wildfires in February is not common in the Valley.

“I’m not going to rest easy until we have a good snowpack,” said Jon Owen, the city of Palmer’s Emergency Services director.

Norm McDonald, fire management officer with the state Division of Forestry in Palmer, said he won’t have anybody on duty to fight wildfires until April when he plans to start calling in staff.

“We have a couple we could pull back if we need to. We’re kind of holding off,” McDonald said Monday.

He said National Weather Service predictions called for the wind to start calming down on Tuesday so, with any luck, Forestry won’t be needed. The division has been helping restock equipment where local fire departments need it, he said.

The weather service predicts 5- to 20-mph winds Tuesday with 10- to 15-mph winds early Wednesday that should be gone by that evening.

Until then, the borough remains under a red flag warning — a warning for high fire danger. And until the wind dies down, the Mat-Su Borough says it will keep its air quality warning in place.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.