My friend just died in a fire...

kaichu dento · Jun 27, 2010

I just got an e-mail from one of my friends where I'd been working for most of the last ten years and now, less than a week of having left there, one of the coolest guys that's ever worked there got drunk and passed out in a cabin that burned up yesterday.

They didn't think anyone was in it, but when the backhoe started tearing it apart they found him. I'm kind of numb right now and just don't know how to feel but I miss him and had been looking forward to talking to him again. One of the girls that worked with him everyday was the one that saw the cabin burning about 3:00 yesterday morning.

He just got a new dog that he was so proud of and I ran into him after work a couple weeks ago. He'd just got back from walking the dog but when I told him about a couple of cool trails I knew that most of the people at the resort didn't know about, we went right back out again. I saw him several times after that and probably talked to him at least a few times a week and he was one of my regulars to come hear me play on Saturdays. However, that run down through the woods with his new dog will remain the last thing we ever did together.

Always smiling and happy, he was one of the rare people that never gave up on finding new things to improve about the pool area at the hot springs. Chena Hot Springs will be a much more solemn place without him and I know that none of us that were lucky enough to work with him will ever forget his cheerfulness. Ironic, as he was telling me that if I'd met him three years ago I would not have liked him at all.

That was when he started spending lots of time alone out near Dillingham where he'd worked for years. It was during that time that he said he spent many hours contemplating who he was and who he wanted to be. Though completely unknown to the world at large, he was a great man and the world is a poorer place for his loss.

Body found in rubble of burned cabin at Chena Hot Springs Resort
by Jeff Richardson

FAIRBANKS — A body was discovered in the remains of a cabin at Chena Hot Springs Resort following a fire early Saturday morning.

Alaska State Troopers found the body later that morning, after the blaze was extinguished, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Peters said authorities have
tentatively identified the victim, but they aren't releasing a name until the ID can be confirmed. She said the remains were badly burned.

The body was sent to the state medical examiner to be identified and so a cause of death can be determined, Peters said.

The fire was sudden and intense, according to a guest at the resort, which is located about 60 miles from Fairbanks. Dee Wennerstrom, who was staying at the nearby lodge with her daughter and granddaughter, said they were awakened at about 3 a.m. Saturday when someone ran through the building screaming about a fire.

Wennerstrom said they looked outside to see a nearby employee cabin fully engulfed in flames.

"It was gone in less than an hour," she said. "It was really bad."

Resort owner Bernie Karl said he didn't want to discuss any specifics about the death until authorities make a final identification, but he said it was a huge blow to employees there.

"We're extremely distraught over the loss of life," he said.

The roughly 12-by-16-foot cabin, which was built in the 1980s, had been recently purchased by the resort, Karl said.

He said maintenance personnel quickly responded to the fire with hoses and fire extinguishers, but it had progressed too far to be extinguished.

"The crew did a tremendous job doing the best they could," he said.

The fire was large enough that it spread to nearby trees and caused concerns that it might ignite other buildings. Karl said another small cabin is just a few feet away.

The situation was uncertain enough that Wennerstrom said her family and other guests packed their bags and waited outside in case they needed to leave quickly.

An Alaska Division of Forestry engine responded to the scene and remained there until the threat of a wildfire subsided, according to a press release by the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center. The area is currently on monitor status for a forest fire, although only a small area was involved.

Peters said the cause of the fire is being investigated by the state fire marshal's office.

Here's a couple of the only good pictures I've got of him.

Goodbye Kevin...

crizyal · Jun 27, 2010

He sounds like a great friend. I am sorry to hear about your loss. Very sad to hear this.

Zeruel · Jun 27, 2010

Very sorry about your friend. I've lost some of mine too (to cancer and accidents) so I can relate to the initial shock and the sadness that ensues. We should always remember to cherish the friendship around us. May Kevin rest in peace.

JaguarDave-in-Oz · Jun 27, 2010

Sorry to hear.

derfyled · Jun 27, 2010

Sad news... reading your post made me called an old friend...

My best thoughts are with you Pete...

scout24 · Jun 27, 2010

:candle: Very sorry for your loss... Remember the good times, it is so sad when it happens so suddenly. As stated above, I'll be making some phone calls today. Life is too short, enjoy today.

Mark Mck · Jun 27, 2010

I'm sorry about your friend. May he rest in peace and may God bless you through your mourning and loss.

ninemm · Jun 27, 2010

So sorry to hear about your loss Pete. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and Kevin's friends and family.

fisk-king · Jun 27, 2010

Sorry Pete

Remember the good times, cherish all the moments, and keep going.

Dances with Flashlight · Jun 27, 2010

Losing a friend or loved one is never easy, but the memories can help lessen the grief. Sorry for your loss.

kaichu dento · Jun 27, 2010

derfyled said:
Sad news... reading your post made me called an old friend...

scout24 said:
:candle:...I'll be making some phone calls today.

I see all your names and appreciate the support but these two responses are the kind I was really hoping to see. I've had too many experiences of not getting to talk one more time, but I talked to Kevin just about every time I saw him and although I'd been looking forward to seeing him again, he lived life very well.

Something that's really bothering me now is that he burned up in a cabin at Chena Hot Springs with a few suspicious circumstances and there is no mention of it in the local newspaper.

Monocrom · Jun 27, 2010

I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your friend.

fishinfool · Jun 28, 2010

Sorry for your loss.

Youfoundnemo · Jun 28, 2010

Its a shame that fairbanks FD didnt send in a 2 man team with a 2 in hose to check the interior, I know that our FD will always check the interior if its a unknow # of occupants, perhaps the structure was already compromised when the FD got there.

Either way Im sorry for your loss and hope that your friends death may atleast raise awareness for the local FD and get some more volunteers on board

kaichu dento · Jun 28, 2010

Even if they had, the hot springs is 60 miles from town. The people that need to be woken up is the owner who just had a fire crew out because we didn't have what we needed to fight a brush fire last month.

If I'd had more than just a shovel and had more people down there we could have prevented the fire fighters from getting called at all last month. This is the fourth fire right at the hot springs that I know of in just a few years and we're never ever prepared. I had problems with my lungs for at least a month after a fire we had in one of the big buildings was fought using plain garden hose with scalding hot water and no nozzles or proper breathing masks. Burning foam inside the hangar on that one.

The one last month started when there was a ban on burning because of high winds and the wind caught some sparks and put them in the grass. When I got up there a few people were standing around holding shovels and asking what to do while the flames were burning right in front of them! If I'd had 30 people right then and there with those same shovels and some 5 gallon buckets we could have stopped it, but it took it jumping one of the trails and getting into a berm full of junk wood to finally get all the bodies we needed and by that time I couldn't get to the water that I'd been standing in at the start of it.

I don't think there's much that could have been done to save Kevin though. I called the guy at the front desk to make sure that his e-mail didn't mean that having lost Kevin didn't mean that he had quit and he said that when Sayuri came screaming to call maintenance the whole cabin was already completely engulfed in flames.

Sorry for the aimless ramble...

Monocrom · Jun 28, 2010

kaichu dento said:
Sorry for the aimless ramble...

Not aimless at all. Clearly the local elected officials are incompetent morons.

Roger Sully · Jun 28, 2010

I am very to hear of the loss of your friend.

F250XLT · Jun 28, 2010

Sorry to hear of your friend losing his life, may he rest in peace.

SFfanman · Jun 28, 2010

Sorry to hear it as well, Kaicho.

Alaric Darconville · Jun 28, 2010

I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

Try not to dwell on the what could have beens and the if onlies, and remember the good memories. Even remember that had you met him at the "wrong time" you'd never have liked him, and that you were lucky that you met him when you did.

My friend just died in a fire...

Flashaholic

Enlightened

Flashlight Enthusiast

Enlightened

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashaholic

Newly Enlightened

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashaholic

Flashaholic

Enlightened

Enlightened

Flashaholic

Flashaholic

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashlight Enthusiast

Enlightened

Flashlight Enthusiast

Similar threads