Anchorage firefighters say the sole occupant of a local home died Tuesday morning after a fire initially traced to a blocked dryer vent.
An Anchorage Fire Department statement on the blaze, issued Friday afternoon, said a report of heavy smoke near Elmore Road and Coventry Drive came in just after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Responding crews found a single-family home with smoke and fire visible from its back side.
As firefighters fought the blaze, a search of the home found the injured person, who was taken to a hospital by ambulance but died later that day.
“Investigators have determined the fire likely resulted from a clothes dryer with an obstructed vent,” firefighters said. “Lint and debris from the dryer appears to have contributed to the ignition of the fire which grew to involve part of the home.”
AFD Assistant Chief Alex Boyd said Friday that the fire apparently started in the materials blocking the dryer vent. Nobody else was found in the home, he said.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether the home’s smoke alarms were working at the time of the fire. Boyd urged residents to ensure smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms are working, and to have dryer vents regularly cleaned and serviced.
Tuesday’s fire was Anchorage’s fourth fatal fire this year, according to AFD.
Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cklint@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Chris here.
