Anchorage Fire Department
Contact: Tom Kempton
267-4999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 07/31/06
Overnight Fires keep Firefighters busy
Basement Fire 8:27 PM Sunday Night
3008 Turnagin St.
Eleven units responded and were on location in less than three minutes. Engine 5 responded for a reported chimney fire. Upon arrival they found heavy smoke coming from the chimney area. Upon further investigation they found the home to be charged with smoke. Further investigation found the smoke to be originating in the crawl space. Engine 5 established command and directed incoming units. Engine 5 pulled a 1 ¾” line to the rear of the structure where the access was located. They advanced to the crawl space and extinguished the fire, passing command to BC1. Engine 5 then performed an overhaul of the crawl space. No obvious cause for the fire was found. Access to the crawl space from the interior was blocked by a bookcase that was over the access hatch. Damage was estimated at $10-!5 Thousand dollars. The fire was possibly electrical in origin.
Trailer fire at 2:12 AM
3240 Penland Parkway Space 408
This fire is under investigation for possibly being intentionally set.
Eleven units responded … engine three was first on location in two minutes. Engine 3 responded to a report of a structure fire at 3240 Penland Pky. Space #408. On location they found a single-wide mobile home approximately 40% involved. E03 established Penland command, assigned E02 to pull a backup line. T03 to secure utilities and perform a primary search. E03 announced that they had their own water supply. They pulled a 1 ¾” attack and passed command. E03 made entry through the front of the trailer, which was an attached lean to. Shortly after entering the trailer, which was heavily involved in fire, FF Bird fell through the floor twice. At this point, I told FF Bird that we were going to back out and go defensive. I relayed the circumstances and my intentions to Command over the radio and left the structure. E03, E06, and E02 extinguished the fire from the exterior with a 1 ¾” attack line flowing CAFS. T01 and T03 overhauled the structure. A primary search could not be conducted until the fire was well under control due to the volume of fire and the unstable floors. E03 crew conducted the primary search after the fire was brought under control. The structure was unoccupied and for sale. A bottle of charcoal lighter fluid was found in the back yard and secured by APD after photos were taken. I suspect that the fire originated in or around an outside storage shed in the rear of the structure. APD is conducting an investigation … case #06-36085.
Fire in a garage attached to house 5:58 AM
821 Woodmar Place
Unites Assigned: E15, E09, M09, Sal, T12, B2, R04, E07, T05, EMS2, B3
Truck 12 responded to a reported structure fire and arrived as the first truck company on location. Initial assignment was to establish PPV and (force) open a garage door to assist ventilation for crews attacking fire confined to the attached garage. Tk12 engineer secured the electric and natural gas utilities, provided electrical light and cords and salvage overhaul equipment. Truck 12 officer assisted with fire origin and cause investigation as follows. The area of fire origin was located inside the garage on a wooden bench located against the North exterior wall. E15 officer collected photos, photo log and security of photos. Probable cause was determined to be electrical in nature origination in either 1), rechargeable battery packs located directly at the point of fire origin or 2), electrical multi-outlet strip attached to the wall in the immediate area of the fire origin. It had numerous electronic devices plugged into it. Possible electrical short, or malfunction, overheating of battery charging unit. All other sources of ignition were eliminated from the point of fire origin.