Talkeetna residents are wondering what is going on after two buildings caught ablaze on two separate nights. On Saturday night an aluminum-sided trailer was destroyed on I street. On Sunday night, a second blaze ignited in a house across the street from that site. That brings the number of unexplained fires in Talkeetna to three in the last two weeks. Both properties were unoccupied and no injuries were reported. The Talkeetna Volunteer, Willow and Houston Fire Departments responded.
The first reports of a fire on I street came in around 9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10 in East Talkeetna. Assistant Fire Chief Erik Denkewalter said the structure, an aluminum-sided trailer with a extended building attached to the back of it, was in full blaze when Talkeetna Volunteer Fire Department first arrived on the scene. Assistance was requested from the Willow and Houston fire departments, and the Talkeetna volunteers were able to bring the blaze under control by the time additional assistance arrived. Denkewalter says the responders were able to put a lot of water on the fire and bring it down around 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning.
The property owner says the structure was unoccupied at the time, and the fire did not spread to any adjacent structures. The estimated value of damages caused is unknown, and it is hard to determine how much furnishings or other property was inside the structure when it burned. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
On Sunday, a second blaze was reported shortly before 7 p.m., and was also located on I street, directly across the street from the fire of the previous night. The second blaze was beginning to consume a house that had been unoccupied, and from initial reports, there was no electricity at that property. Fire responders had the blaze under control in an hour, and completed their operations by 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Alaska State Troopers have secured the sites until the State Fire Marshall could make an investigation.
Lorien Nettleton is a reporter with KTNA in Talkeetna.
