Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Authorities are investigating as a possible arson a blaze near Wasilla last weekend that seriously damaged a two-story home. It's the second such investigation in as many weeks in the Valley and the latest in a series of fatal or suspicious fires since December.

No one was home when the fire broke out early Saturday, destroying about half a two-story house in the Williwaw subdivision, said Central Mat-Su Fire Department Chief James Steele.

Both the Mat-Su fire marshal and Alaska State Troopers are investigating. Neither would say why they suspect the fire was intentionally set.

The fire came just six days after a suspicious fire at a former day care near Wasilla. That fire also remains under investigation.

On March 29, firefighters responded to a report of a blaze at the abandoned site of Children's Academy just off Bogard Road. The building, mostly destroyed by a never-solved suspicious fire in 2006, had no power or gas hookups at the time of the recent fire, authorities said.

The latest blazes add to what has already been a busy year for fire investigators in Mat-Su. Since December, there have been three fires deemed suspicious and two fatal fires.

Fire officials said this week they've wrapped up their investigations of the fatal fires, including a Jan. 7 fire just south of Wasilla in which 9-year-old Bryce "Anthony" Woods was killed and his 12-year-old brother critically injured.

The cause of the fire, which destroyed the family's trailer, will remain undetermined because the extent of the fire made it impossible to pinpoint the source, Steele said. The fire started in a room with a wood stove.

The boy shared a trailer on South Sylvan Lane near Knik-Goose Bay Road with his 12-year-old brother and his mother, who was not home at the time of the fire. His brother escaped with critical injuries.

Investigators have pinpointed the cause of a fatal fire in Wasilla two days earlier, on Jan. 5.

Darlene Miller, 54, a popular hospice nurse, died with her two dogs and a pet bird after being overcome by heat and smoke in her home on West Melanie Avenue, fire officials said. Miller apparently fell asleep with a lit cigarette that started the blaze, Steele said. The fire started in the area of a day bed in a downstairs entry area. There was no indication alcohol was involved, he said.

Meanwhile, investigators continue to search for clues to the cause of a Dec. 12 fire that did an estimated $1 million worth of damage to Wasilla Bible Church.

Wasilla police investigator Ruth Josten said she is working on the case with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The federal agency is testing gasoline found at several places around the church for any specific additives, Josten said. She's also following any tips, though she wouldn't say how many have come in or how recently.

"Time will be on our side," she said. "You have to be willing to set a case aside, do some work on it, take in everything that anybody calls you with. An overheard conversation -- sometimes it's that minor of a situation."

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