newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — A North Pole man suffered frostbitten feet Tuesday after his home caught fire and he had to wait outside on a second-story balcony for 20 minutes without shoes in temperatures dipping close to 30 degrees below zero.

James Iler, 44, froze his feet waiting for firefighters to rescue him from a second-story balcony, his wife, Renee, said. He was wearing only socks.

“My husband has health issues, and he couldn’t get downstairs” to get out of the house, she said. “He’s a very large man.”

The temperature was 29 degrees below zero at the time of the fire.

Heavy smoke drove James Iler to the balcony, where he had to wait 20 minutes before firefighters were able to get him down, his wife said. He will be in Fairbanks Memorial Hospital for at least a week, she said.

Renee Iler was able to make it downstairs and get safely outside.

The fire turned out to be minor, as far as fires go. Radiant heat from a wood stove ignited a broken plastic vacuum cleaner that had been placed too close to the stove, Renee Iler said.

“It burned the vacuum cleaner down to the motor,” she said. “The motor and cord was all that was left.”

The fire had just started when she came downstairs and discovered it, but it quickly filled the house with black smoke as it burned, and her husband had to retreat to the balcony, Renee Iler said.

Firefighters from North Star Volunteer Fire Department arrived at the Dyke Road home at 6:31 p.m., six minutes after the fire was reported, and quickly extinguished the flames, deputy chief Jerry Hanson said. Firefighters also rescued the couple’s 11 dogs, which were confined in kennels on the first floor.

Firefighters originally thought the vacuum cleaner caught on fire because it was used to clean ashes out of the wood stove, but Renee Iler said that wasn’t the case and the vacuum cleaner didn’t work.

Damage to the home, valued at $163,000 according to Fairbanks North Star Borough records, was minor.

“It’s all smoke damage,” Renee Iler said.

There was not a smoke or carbon monoxide detector installed anywhere in the house, for which Renee Iler did not have an explanation.

Firefighters installed new fire and carbon monoxide alarms in the house and an escape ladder for the second floor after extinguishing the fire, Hanson said.

“I can’t overemphasize how important it is to have a working smoke detector,” he said. “We’ve had a couple events in the past few years where working smoke detectors made the difference between people getting out and a potential fatality.”

Hanson reminded homeowners that the borough’s fire departments will provide and install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors for free.

“All they have to do is call us,” he said.

Batteries in smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors should be changed every year, and units should be replaced every five years, he said.

The Ilers returned to the house Tuesday night after being treated at the hospital, but James Iler ended up returning to the hospital on Wednesday because of pain in his feet.

“He couldn’t bear any weight on his feet,” Renee Iler said.

The couple’s insurance company advised the Ilers to move out of the house while it is being cleaned. The insurance company is putting the Ilers up in a hotel and will pay for boarding their dogs, Renee Iler said.

“It really could have been lot worse,” she said.