Firefighters

Anchorage police and firefighters are working to bring holiday cheer to underprivileged children, holding the annual "Shop with a Cop or Firefighter" event Friday. About 50 children from three different shelters from around town had a chance to do a little Christmas shopping at Fred Meyer for their families, with the help of officers and firefighters. Each kid received a gift card from Fred Meyer. Officers say they were impressed by how much the kids care about shopping for their families.

A small brush fire threatened structures off Trunk Road in Wasilla, Monday morning after a power-line fell over igniting the fire, according to firefighters. Firefighters from several crews, including the Division of Forestry, BLM, Mat-Su Central, and Palmer responded. Officials say it took firefighters about 45 minutes to enclose the fire, as crews were fighting against 40 mile per hour wind gusts. Firefighters were able to keep the fire to less than an acre, they were cleaning up "hot spots" for almost two hours.

A Muldoon resident damaged his home after fixing his motorcycle Friday evening, according to the Anchorage Fire Department. On Nov. 23, the fire sparked shortly before 8 p.m on the 8600 block Brookridge Drive. According to AFD, a man added gasoline to his motorcycle after working on it, and when he started the vehicle, it caught fire. Firefighters said he was able to get out of the building on his own before responders arrived. “He worked on a lot of motorcycles so he had a lot of flammable liquids, which probably got the fire very hot quickly, which probably led to a little bit of a spread,” Capt.

The Mat-Su Borough says it has placed Lance Barve, the Willow Fire Department chief on administrative leave while it completes a personnel investigation. The borough wouldn't explain the details of the investigation, pending its outcome, but did say an acting chief has been appointed to the volunteer fire department. Former Willow firefighter Don Burge says about half a dozen firefighters have quit the department over the past two years because of what he called Barve's angry attitude on the job.  Burge said Barve sometimes yelled and screamed at his employees.

Autumn Ludwig looked up the mountain and saw Penny Assman falling. Instead of running from the woman hurtle 15 feet toward, Ludwig braced for impact and tried to break Assman's fall. Assman feel 15 feet off Mount Marathon during the famously difficult Mount Marathon race this past Fourth of July. She ended up in the hospital for five days because of her injuries. This past week Ludwig, a volunteer fire fighter and EMT with the Bear Creek Fire Service Area, was awarded the State of Alaska 2012 Firefighter of the Year award.

He hoped he could do it in 7 hours. Eight hours would have been fine as well. Heck, Larry Hodges just wanted to finish the Equinox Marathon, period. It was the 50 th anniversary of the Fairbanks marathon, but for Hodges, the goal wasn't about making history. “I wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone, really, just myself,” he said. In April 2011, Hodges and a friend were walking along the main thoroughfare at Arctic Man back to their campsite. It was dark, and a snowmachine cruising the path surprised the pair.

Across the nation and in Alaska, Tuesday marks the 11th anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. State flags have been ordered to half-staff and there will be a ceremony in the evening. The event takes place at 6:00 p.m. in downtown Anchorage at the Alaska fallen firefighter memorial at 5th Avenue and A Street. The ceremony will honor Alaska firefighters and emergency responders who have died in the line of duty, and includes several speeches, a final alarm ceremony, and the Crow Creek Pipes and Taps.

Just as 9-11 ushered in the war on terror, the attack on Pearl Harbor ushered in World War II 60 years earlier. Just before the attack, as Alaska fortified its coast against the Japanese, four army fireman died as they attempted to put out a grass fire at Fort Ray, near Sitka. "The grass fire spread to a dynamite and munitions dump, and the fire department responded,” said Mark Barker Chair of the Alaskan Fallen Firefighter Committee.  “When they got there, the ammunition dump exploded killing all four firefighters, and two other military personnel.

A former Anchorage firefighter has been arrested for a sex crime charge filed in Colorado. Anchorage police spokesperson Lt. Dave Parker says Kenneth Outten was taken into custody Thursday night on a warrant. Court records from El Paso County, Colorado show Outten faces a charge of sexual assault of a child under the age of 15, by one in a position of trust, allegedly committed in 1995. Lindsey Whitt, the communications director for the Municipality of Anchorage, says the 43-year-old resigned from the fire department Friday.

Anchorage firefighters say no injuries were reported in a Midtown house fire Wednesday night. Dispatchers received several reports about the fire, on the 1500 block of LaTouche Street, at about 6:30 p.m. Senior AFD Capt. Jeff Bayless says ten units responded to the blaze, which occurred at a home that was being rented but was unoccupied at the time. Arriving units found that the fire had started outside the structure but was working its way inside. According to Bayless, initial reports of explosions from the home were inaccurate.