VIDEO: The Anchorage Fire Department and the American Red Cross went door to door Thursday morning in a mobile home park where two fatal fires occurred in the past two months, offering free smoke alarm installations and home fire safety plans to residents.
The outreach came weeks after Linda Tomaganuk died in one fire at Malaspina Court in late February. Tomaganuk ran back into a burning mobile home to find her son, Thomas.
Another mobile home fire on the same street was also fatal. Neither home involved in the two fires had a working smoke alarm.
AFD Fire Inspector Eddie Athey said a working smoke alarm is the most critical tool a home can have. “The single most important tool that can be in a home to prevent having a fire fatality is a working smoke alarm,” Athey said. Athey said fatality rates are already elevated this year, which is part of the reason AFD is canvassing the neighborhood.
