NORTH STAR FIRE NEWS

PRESS RELEASE

FROM: Jerry Hanson, Deputy Chief DATE: June 17, 2007

North Star Volunteer Fire Dept.

2358 Bradway Road

488-3400

SUBJECT: STRUCTURE FIRES – Severe Weather – 3840 Lakewood Loop & 1771 Jessica Loop

For Immediate Release: North Pole, Alaska.

ON Sunday evening, June 17, 2007, at approx. 10:50 PM, the North Star Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to a reported structure fire at 3840 Lakewood Loop. A second fire was dispatched to 1771 Jessica Loop at 11:26 PM. There was a large thunderstorm in progress at the time and both of these fires were possibly related to the severe electrical storm that brought local lightning strikes, heavy rain, and hail.

The North Star Volunteer Fire Department responded to the first fire call on Lakewood Loop with 4 engines from two stations and 15 firefighters. Mutual Aid assistance was also requested from the North Pole FD to the scene, and Fort Wainwright FD to cover Station One. First units were on scene within 4 minutes and reported light smoke from a single family wood frame split level home. Investigation inside the building revealed black smoke coming from the crawl space area. The female occupant of the building reported a lightning strike hit near the house, blew the television set up, and there were electrical problems in a nearby laundry room. Soon after this black smoke began to come from the crawl space. The occupant was ordered to leave the building.

Firefighters in full PPE and SCBA and using a thermal imaging camera made entry into the crawl space, found an atmosphere of zero visibility, and using the TIC located fire and knocked it down with a hose line. The entire crawl space was checked for additional damage and fire was extinguished in smoldering items that were in the crawl space for storage. There were a lot of items in the crawl space and maneuvering was difficult. Due to the limited space to move around in, the floor of the living room was opened up to provide ventilation and a secondary means of egress for the firefighters.

Further investigation found a large circuit breaker on an outside power pole near the garage had been tripped, and also a dryer vent hose that extended the length of the crawl space to an opposite wall had been burned. All but a few feet of the hose had all the vinyl burned off and the wire coil was discolored indicating it had been heated to a very high temperature. The items that were burned and / or scorched were nearby and followed the pathway of the dryer vent hose, and the dryer vent tube leading outside the house was burned around its perimeter as well as the polyurethane insulation around the tube. Investigation in the laundry room found soot marks around all the outlets on the walls.

Damage is difficult to estimate at this fire, but a conservative estimate of a total of $40,000 was made, due to the need to possibly replace major portions of the buildings wiring. The building’s value is estimated to be in excess of $200,000 and the home is insured. The family was offered Red Cross assistance, which they refused and found lodging in Fairbanks for the night.

Less than 45 minutes after the first fire, NSVFD was dispatched to a second fire on Jessica Loop. Dispatch stated damage was reported to be minimal, however the home owner was asking for the FD to respond. One command officer and one engine responded from the Lakewood Loop fire, was on scene within eight minutes, and found a single family home with nothing showing. Investigation revealed a burn mark on the siding around the building that matched the previous location of a cable TV coaxial cable. The occupant stated there was lightning in the area, including some very close, and they noticed a burning odor. They checked and found the burned off cable. It is believed that lightning hit the cable TV reception antenna mounted on the roof and traveled down the cable coax, to a grounding point. There was no fire and NSVFD units cleared the scene.

Photos are of the situation in the crawl space on the Lakewood Loop fire and were taken after the area was cleared and checked for Carbon Monoxide. All pictures are courtesy of the North Star Volunteer Fire Department.

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