Nelly Ewan and her 3-year-old escaped out a rear bedroom window. Ewan's niece and nephew, Jasmine Ewan, 9, and Elijah Ewan, 6, couldn't get out and died in the fire. It's still unclear how they became trapped or where in the house they were when the fire broke out.
"It was a two-story house and it collapsed in the fire. We really can't determine whether they were upstairs or downstairs or what," said Megan Peters, a trooper spokeswoman.
Likewise, the damage was so severe investigators couldn't determine if there were smoke detectors, said Peters, who spoke with a deputy fire marshal investigating the fire.
The house was on the Old Richardson Highway. It took fire crews about 20 minutes to get there once they got the call and two hours to put out the flames, Peters said.
Ewan, 40, was taken to Alaska Native Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition on Thursday afternoon, according to a hospital spokeswoman. She was baby-sitting her niece and nephew. It wasn't clear whose house they were in, Peters said. Investigators intend to interview her but Peters wasn't sure whether that had happened.
The U.S. Fire Administration, a federal agency, on Thursday reacted to the news about the Copper Center fire with information about how to prevent similar tragedies.
Tip No. 1: install dual sensor smoke alarms in every bedroom. Such sensors detect both fast-burning fires and slow, smoldering fires.
The agency also urges people to practice finding their way out in a fire by closing their eyes and crawling out. Children need to be taught to tell an adult if they find matches or a lighter, the agency says.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.