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Vol. 49, Issue 264
In the news
Lawsuit blames fatal fire on gas company, owners ANCHORAGE — An Alaska wrongful death lawsuit blames a natural gas company and the owners of a mobile home for a fire that killed five young girls who had been left home alone, a report said. Parents Jimmy Flores and Janelle Quackenbush, who rented the home, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Palmer Superior Court, The Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday. Enstar Natural Gas, the mobile home’s owners, managers and real-estate companies contributed to the deaths in 2017 by failing to fix problems with the home in the community of Butte, the lawsuit said. The children ranged in age from 3 to 12 and their parents are seeking more than $100,000 in damages each, among other requests. The girls were left alone temporarily and someone accidentally turned on the stovetop instead of adjusting the oven, resulting in an overheated pan that caused the fire, the lawsuit said. The appliance was being used to heat the home about 42 miles northeast of Anchorage after gas service had been turned off, the lawsuit said. The defendants failed to install adequate smoke detectors or fix a furnace and fix a door that was frozen open, leading to high gas bills the couple could not pay, the lawsuit claimed. Flores and Quackenbush repeatedly asked for detectors and other home repairs, and the failure to correct those problems made the home “uninhabitable,” the lawsuit said. The deaths “were a direct result of a dangerous residence which was sold and rented in violation of applicable safety laws,” said attorney Phillip Weidner. An Enstar representative and the property owner declined to comment. The former owner’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. — Associated Press
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Tuesday, August 20, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Dunleavy signs off on $1,600 PFD The governor also calls for a third special sesson of the Legislature. By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed House Bill 2001 Monday, finalizing the state’s budget and allocating a $1,600
Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. Dunleavy made significant cuts — $650 million, a roughly 8% spending decrease — to the state’s budget for the coming fiscal year. While he did not veto appropriations for a limited PFD, he did say he anticipates calling a third special session — the sole purpose of which would be resolving the PFD issue. “Effective today, through the
enactment of HB 2001, we have eliminated over one-third of the state’s deficit through reduction of approximately $650 million in state spending,” Dunleavy said in the video. “Reforms have been initiated to make services and programs, such as Medicaid, University of Alaska, and the Alaska Marine Highway System more efficient and more sustainable.” The governor’s budget included
funding for various state programs in addition to programs like Head Start and senior benefits Dunleavy restored earlier this month. The budget contained funding for Human Services Matching Grants and Community Initiative Grants which provide money to municipalities in order to qualify for matching See PFD, Page A3
Wildfires flare across peninsula
Swan Lake Fire expands by thousands of acres over weekend, causing highway closure, dense smoke
North Fork Fire flares up; ‘Ready’ alerts issued By Michael Armstrong Homer News
victoria petersen/peninsulaclarion
Cars are stacked up on the Sterling Highway south of Cooper Landing near the Russian River area on Monday evening.
By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
High winds and dry conditions led to a weekend of intense growth for the Swan Lake Fire, which had grown to 138,479 acres by Monday evening. Crews spent most of Monday assessing the new growth of the fire and developing a new strategy for containment. The growth over the weekend prompted a closure of the Sterling Highway Sunday evening. The highway was reopened at 12 p.m. on Monday. Traffic was stopped Monday night at Mile 72, as the fire
began backing north of Skilak Lake Road toward the Sterling Highway, according to a 6:15 p.m. update from the Office of Emergency Management. A backing fire means that the fire is slowly moving into the wind or down a slope. Normally, fires move with the wind and prefer to run upslope, according to OEM. Sunday’s highway closure forced some travelers to seek shelter at campgrounds in Soldotna and Seward. Overnight emergency shelters were set up at Seward High School and the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex by Seward Parks and
Recreation Department and the Red Cross, respectively. Red Cross volunteer Beth Odom said that six adults and one child used the Soldotna emergency shelter and about 50 people camped out at Centennial Park Sunday night. As of Monday evening, both shelters had closed operations due to the Sterling Highway being reopened. Jace Wohlrabe and Daren Brety had spent the weekend fishing in Soldotna and were planning to head back to Wasilla when the highway closure stranded them on the See highway, Page A3
A fire that started early Sunday evening at the south end of the North Fork Road near Homer flared up on Monday and grew from about 5 acres to 59 acres. Fire crews responded after the fire was reported about 6:45 p.m. on Sunday. Two helicopters with buckets dropped water on the fire on Sunday. A tanker airplane dropped chemical retardant on the fire on Monday. As of Monday evening, bulldozers were able to get a fireline around the North Fork Fire, which was burning about 6 miles northwest of Homer in between the North Fork Road and the Diamond Ridge Road, according to the Alaska Interagency Fire Information Office. “The two water-scooping Fire Boss aircraft and the air retardant tanker were diverted to a fire near Caribou Lake about 15 miles to the northeast. That fire was estimated at five acres. Suppression efforts are underway on the Caribou Lake Fire.” There was no other information on the Caribou Lake Fire as of press time. By about 6:15 p.m. Monday, winds had shifted and were coming from See north, Page A2
Candidates announced for Oct. 1 municipal elections By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
It’s election season on the Kenai Peninsula Borough, and this year there are a number of open seats on the Borough Assembly, the School Board and several Service Area boards. Residents have until Sept. 1 to register to vote in municipal
Candidates Borough Assembly (3-year term) District 3 — Nikiski Joseph Ross Jess Bjorkman Jonathan Quick District 4 - Soldotna Tyson Cox Rose Henry District 7 — Central Peninsula Brent Johnson Holly Odd School Board (3-year term) District 1 — Kalifornsky
elections, and absentee ballots can be submitted in person from Sept. 16 through Election Day, Oct. 1 at the following locations: The Kenai Peninsula Borough Clerk’s Office at 144 N. Binkley St. in Soldotna from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Annex Office at 638 E. Pioneer Ave in Homer from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Daniel Castimore Patricia Truesdell Susan Lockwood District 6 — East Peninsula Martha Fleming District 9 — South Peninsula John “Zen” Kelly Joint Operations Board for Central Peninsula Emergency Medical and Central Emergency (3-year term) Seat A: Steven R. Tachick Seat B: Ralph Linn Bear Creek Fire Service Area Board (3-year term)
Monday through Friday. The Homer City Clerk’s Office at 491 E. Pioneer Ave. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Kenai City Clerk’s Office at 210 Fidalgo Ave. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Seldovia City Clerk’s Office at 235 Dock St. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Seward City Clerk’s Office at Seat A: Earl Kloster Seat B: James Sheehan Seat E: None Nikiski Fire Service Area Board (3-year term) Seat A: Peter Ribbens Seat B: Mark Cialek Seat C: Janet Hilleary Nikiski Senior Service Area Board (3-year term) Seat B: Jonathan Becker Bill Hartline Seat C: Erich DeLand Ray Tauriainen
410 Adams St. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Election Day is Oct. 1, and polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Visit https://myvoterinformation. alaska.gov to find your nearest polling location, and visit the Kenai Peninsula Borough website for more information on the upcoming municipal elections. North Peninsula Recreation Board (3-year term) Seat A: Harrison Deveer Seat B: Michele Carver Lacey Lyn Stock Seward Bear Creek Flood Board (3-year term) Seat C: None Seat F: Orson Smith Seat G: Mark Ganser South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Board Seat G: Nora Raymond Seat H: Doris Cabana Seat I: Ralph Broshes