Smoke from a wildfire that sparked overnight Saturday near McHugh Creek on Thursday was moving through Anchorage streets, including Villages Scenic Parkway where homes are right at the edge of the fire's boundary.
One homeowner in the neighborhood, Rick Abbott, says the fire danger of the area around his neighborhood was so predictable that more than five years ago he purchased his own fire truck on eBay for about $7,000.
“It’s not if but when," says Abbott, "and when has come.”
The truck came from Magnolia, Delaware, and some of Abbott's friends dubbed the truck Maggie.
The back end was converted into a trailer, which can turn 12 gallons of fire blocking gel into 1,200 gallons of sprayable fire protection.
“The problem here is we’re just so far away from the fire stations that the response time is not very good, plus we’re at the end of a dead end road.”
Maggie's front end has been turned into a flatbed truck that also sports a fire protection system.
Abbott says his neighbors have keys and know how it works: “It just seemed like a good idea,” he says.