WILLOW -- The sun was warming blackened spikes of spruce, but winter was already bearing down on Jim Sprengel as he stood in the new concrete footing of his future home.
Sprengel is one of dozens of Willow residents working with ever-increasing urgency to rebuild homes incinerated in the mid-June Sockeye Fire before the cold and snow return.
"Right now I got a long ways to go," he said Thursday, standing in the pit off Maleia Lane where his house used to be. "It's where I live. It's what I do. And winter's coming."
As Willow readies for the hard season ahead, the sobering reality of the pace of recovery is setting in for some of the residents considered victims of the fire -- people left homeless and starting over.
Victims are "all across the spectrum" when it comes to rebuilding, said Fran Lynch, vice-chair of the Willow Recovery Team, a nonprofit umbrella for about 15 faith-based, nonprofit and community-based groups serving as a clearinghouse to identify unmet needs, educate families about resources, and help residents get housed again.
"There is growing tension that winter is coming. It's starting to get yellow here," Lynch said. "I'm pretty sure there is not going to be anybody living in tents. There may be some people in RVs. And there's going to be some folks in houses that are not finished but they're livable."
Range of recovery
Roaring to life amid high temperatures and ferocious winds Sunday, June 14, the Sockeye Fire destroyed 55 primary homes, dozens more structures and torched more than 7,000 acres.
At least a half-dozen dogs died or disappeared in this eclectic community of about 2,000 known as Alaska's unofficial sled dog capital for its proliferation of recreational and competitive dog kennels.
An Anchorage couple -- Greg Imig and Amy Dewitt -- face criminal misdemeanor charges for starting the fire with unattended piles of burning yard debris, no burn permit and no available water, then fleeing. Both have entered not guilty pleas in Palmer court.
A quick driving tour of the fire zone reveals the range of recovery. Some homes are up and almost ready for a roof. At others, smaller cabins or sheds now serve as dwellings, with outhouses built by Eagle Scouts in the yard. Sled dogs sleep atop freshly built dog boxes. Many residents lost trees if not structures and are spending the summer clearing fire-killed timber or even creating massive piles of charred but usable firewood. But some properties look vacant, abandoned and untouched since the fire swept through.
More than two months later in the fire zone, fireweed shows pink against blackened soil and bushy green alder are already 3 or 4 feet tall amid the devastation.
Gray port-a-potties rise at select road junctions for residents still without indoor plumbing.
'A chance for me to come back'
Sprengel lives in a musher-heavy subdivision off the Parks Highway near Mile 73, just north of Willow's town center. His small home was known as the "purple house" even though it was painted a color he calls "epic blue."
Last week, the rapid-fire rhythm of hammers mingled with a chorus of dog howls from the nearby home of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race favorite DeeDee Jonrowe and her husband, Mike.
But Sprengel, a welder whose home insurance lapsed this year, is waiting -- gratefully, he says -- on building materials and equipment supplied by a local grassroots group of volunteers known as the Willow Community Rebuild Project that's making slow progress on eight houses for victims. So far, the group has one house partly built, three more with footings (including Sprengel's) and three with floor plans.
Rebuild coordinator Krista Fee said she hopes to move on building at Sprengel's soon with a mixed team of volunteers, Job Corps and possibly Habitat for Humanity. Hunting and fishing seasons decimated the pool of community volunteers, Fee said, but she's hoping to push through the stall and get all the homeowners under a roof -- albeit not in a totally finished home -- by winter.
Sprengel isn't complaining.
"A well-built house is what I intend on having," he said. "I try to accept this as a blessing, because the other house was kind of old. Now's a chance for me to come back and fix things up."
Evolving needs
With rebuilding and cleaning up underway, now community members need winter gear and warm clothes, Lynch said. Some have been donated; the team is also giving out vouchers.
People also need tools, she said. "To do the work to build your home you have to have the right tools. We're getting those donated, but that's another big need -- everything from screwdrivers to power tools."
The team is planning a September "give and take" event, with part of the day open only to invited fire victims. Organizers are matching donors with families. Sunshine Clinic will provide behavioral health services.
The Small Business Administration plans to be in Willow through Sept. 10 at the West Willow Creek Parkway fire station.
Residents say they also need property tax relief for fire-scarred land and lost buildings.
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough last week sent revised assessments to 167 property owners and is processing another dozen or so applications for relief, according to borough assessor Brad Pickett. Notices went out to 450 people within the fire zone.
Anyone with property damage automatically got a 20 percent reduction.The borough also reduced assessments on 38 properties that suffered structural damage from the fire, for a total of more than $2.28 million in reduced assessed value, Pickett said.
"There's some that the entire house was wiped out. Others received just three or four thousand in damage -- they might have lost power to the house or the septic system," he said.
The state is also finishing up the disaster assistance process.
Seventy individuals and families applied for $16,450 disaster assistance grants available to Sockeye Fire victims, according to Jeremy Zidek, spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Thirty-six applied for temporary housing help.
"We realize if someone has lost their house, the $16,450 isn't going to purchase them a new house but that is the extent the state program allows," Zidek said, adding that Alaska's assistance program is among the most robust in the country.
The state so far has paid more than $136,000 in grants and about $95,000 for housing, Zidek said. Emergency managers denied 30 assistance applicants and seven housing ones. Possible reasons could include having insurance that met rebuilding needs, losses not linked to a primary residence, or claims made for damage not caused by the fire.
Changing season
Sprengel plans to spend his state assistance money on new tires for his pickup, an air compressor and a nail gun.
He was working a job in the village of St. Mary's near the Yukon River helping build a pier for a new school gym when the fire blew up. His boss cleared him to fly home but Sprengel figured there'd be nothing left by the time he got home. The fire spared his house that first day, though; it wasn't until a major wind shift the next day that fire incinerated his house.
Sprengel still kicks himself: he could have saved tools and vehicles.
Instead he lost just about everything except a randomly spared hot tub and heating oil tank: welder, furniture, keepsakes, his first motorcycle (a 1971 Honda CB750), entertainment system, seven vehicles including his plow truck and two snowmachines.
These days, Sprengel sleeps in a camper, his pickup, or a van donated by a friend. He splits his time between the property and a friend's shop in town.
"I am running around in circles," he said Thursday. "I'm so busy I don't know which way to go."
The mercury dipped into the 20s by the next morning.
How to help:
Cash donations can be made to the Anchorage Interfaith & Interagency Disaster Recovery Committee (AIIDRC) Account # 1187222 at any Alaska USA Federal Credit Union (please designate Sockeye Fire) or mail to: P.O. Box 240834, Anchorage, AK, 99524. Volunteer resources are being coordinated by United Way of Mat-Su. Needs include skilled volunteers for building and cleanup efforts, donations of time and heavy equipment such as backhoes, trucks, trailers. For more information, call 907-745-5827.