A house fire in Ketchikan Sunday morning left one person dead and another critically injured.
The apartment building is located on Second Avenue, near the Aug. 25 landslide zone. Ketchikan Fire Chief Rick Hines said the neighbors in the apartment upstairs from the fire noticed smoke and called for help at about 8:30 a.m.
Firefighters arrived on scene within two minutes of being dispatched. Hines said they found light smoke coming out of the building and a small indoor fire that was easily extinguished.
Crews transported the two victims inside, a 34-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, to PeaceHealth Medical Center, where the woman was pronounced dead. The man was medevaced to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, where he is in critical but improving condition.
An initial investigation found that the fire started in the bathroom, then burned through the door to the attached bedroom. Hines said both victims, who were a couple, were harmed not by the flames in their home but by inhaling the smoke.
“Most, when I generalize fire victims across the United States, it is from smoke inhalation,” Hines said. “A fire produces toxic smoke. It’s going to be filled with cyanide, it’s going to be filled with carbon monoxide, and heat.”
According to authorities, the home had smoke detectors present, but they had been dismantled. Hines said these days, it’s even more important for residents to have working smoke detectors than it used to be because modern materials burn hotter and produce smoke more quickly.
“These things happen very, very, very rapidly in the modern home,” Hines said. “Almost everything in our homes nowadays is made of plastic, so basically gasoline derivatives, if you will.”
Three upstairs neighbors were evaluated and treated for smoke inhalation at the local hospital, then released. They and other residents of the building were evacuated due to smoke and water damage.
Hines said his heart goes out to the evacuated residents, who just recently got back into their home after being evacuated for weeks after the slide.
Michael Fanelli reported on economics and hosted the statewide morning news at Alaska Public Media.
