A group of roommates in Cooper Landing nearly lost everything in a house fire over the weekend. All made it out safely, including an aquarium of fish and snails rescued by volunteer firefighters.
Cooper Landing resident Wilson, who only uses one name, was selling soup in Moose Pass when she got a call from her roommate Sunday afternoon that their house was on fire. The two communities are small, unincorporated and separated by mountains.
“So I just immediately was like, ‘Um, I'm leaving.’” Wilson said. “So I got in my car, and it's about a 20-minute drive from Moose Pass to here. The whole time, I was obviously freaking out and there were already fire trucks here when I pulled up.”
Jack Bradley is one of Wilson’s roommates. He was watching football when a fire in the home’s wood burning stove got out of control. Bradley made it outside with his dog, Casey, and other roommates.
“We had all kind of evacuated out of the house, or were starting to, and then we remembered Chicken, the cat, which is when I ran upstairs,” he said. “She always hides in the same closet.”
No one was injured in the fire. But Bradley says Wilson’s aquarium, filled with fish and snails, was an afterthought. By the time Wilson got home, she assumed it was too late to save them.
“I mean I assumed that they were dead at the time it was, it was so, so hot,” she said. “Like things were – the windows were cracking and our belongings were melting. And I could even see from outside that the blinds on our windows were melting off, down, off the window.”
Wilson says firefighters asked if there was anything else in the house, and she thought of her aquariums. She says they didn’t hesitate to run back in.
“They gave us thumbs up through the window, and I was like, ‘No way,’” she said. “And then, you know, it took some time, but shortly afterward they – it was just so surreal watching firefighters, like, coming out of the house with all my fish in like, little cups, and they were all alive and well.”
Cooper Landing emergency firefighters rescued all of Wilson’s aquatic critters, including seven cory catfish, one betta fish and four snails of varying species. Fire Chief Dan Osborn told KDLL the aquarium lid had melted around the water, which had become very hot. It’s the agency’s first fish and snail rescue operation since at least 2018, when he joined the agency.
Wilson says her neighbors had a spare fish tank, so she was able to carry the fish to safety quickly.
“For whatever reason, they're like, we're between fish right now,” she said. “So I – it was incredible. I just can't believe how lucky I was able to literally walk them across the street and dump them in there, and they're all fine right now.”
Wilson’s home, however, is uninhabitable. Firefighters determined that a failed wood-burning stove caused the fire. Wilson says they had the chimney inspected within the last year, but flames got to the home’s insulation and roof. On Tuesday afternoon, she and Bradley were at the house, rifling through the debris and salvaging what they could.
They both say they’re thankful for the quick action of Cooper Landing Emergency Services, which included many familiar faces.
Wilson says since the fire they’ve been touched by the outpouring of support from the tight-knit community. She says people have opened their homes, started a clothing and bedding drive and has even replaced her supply of yarn and art supplies.
“Even literally, right now, someone is walking up to our house asking if we need blankets and pillows,” she said. “It’s amazing.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, a GoFundMe organized on behalf of the roommates had also raised more than $2,300 of its $7,500 goal.
Osborn, Cooper Landing’s fire chief, says it's the time of year where everyone should check their smoke detectors and make sure their chimneys are in good working order.
In the meantime, Wilson says her fish and snails are doing well.
Her purple and magenta betta fish looks at home in a video shared via social media. While the filter whirs, it swims toward the top of the tank.
