A 60-year-old Palmer man died of burn injuries earlier this week becoming the state’s 19th fire fatality this year. The man was severely injured while burning trash on Oct. 3. He was driven to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center by a family member then medevaced to Seattle where he later died. 911 was never called. In a statement, Alaska State Fire Marshal Kelly Nicolello emphasized that contacting emergency services immediately can increase the chance of a favorable outcome from any fire. She also recommends checking all burn piles for dangerous items before igniting them and keeping a fire extinguisher at hand.
Anne Hillman is a behavioral health clinician working in rural Alaska. Before going back to school for her Masters of Social Work, she covered social justice issues for Alaska Public Media and ran the multimedia and arts project Mental Health Mosaics with Out North.