Anchorage Daily News

A vacant Hillside home was destroyed early Saturday in a fire that is under investigation.

With temperatures dropping to minus 30, crews had to battle the cold as well as the flames, said Tom Preston, an Anchorage Fire Department battalion chief.

The first 911 calls came in around midnight, and the fire was largely under control by around 2:30 a.m., when some of the crews from other parts of town were sent back to their home stations, he said. But firefighters were still doing cleanup work after 6 a.m.

The area off Birch and O'Malley roads has no fire hydrants. Two of the three tender trucks, or tankers, that hauled water to the home at 5623 Dalzell Circle froze up, Preston said. He wasn't at the fire, but read the reports.

Firefighters had to work in shifts because of the extreme cold, Preston said. The Red Cross brought food. A neighbor brought doughnuts.

Officials said it's too early to say if the fire is suspicious. Anchorage online property records list the owner of the Dalzell Circle home as Josefina Isla, but investigators weren't able to immediately determine whether the ownership status has changed.

Anyone with information can call fire investigators at 267-4900.

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