This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Brayan Vieyra’s name.
One person was killed and another hospitalized with severe burns in a fire that left a family homeless in the Mendenhall Valley early Saturday morning, according to officials and a member of the family.
The fire started at about 4 a.m. at a house in the 8200 block of Aspen Avenue, with the cause still under investigation, according to Capital City Fire/Rescue. One of the occupants, Elizabeth Martinez Ruiz, said in an interview Monday four of her family members were asleep, and she was at work and one other family member living there was away when the fire started.
The home was fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived on scene and the structure is considered a total loss, according to CCFR. Ruiz’s husband of 14 years, Brayan Vieyra, was unable to escape the house while a cousin of hers was medevaced to Anchorage with severe burns, but she said the cousin is now in stable condition.
“During the search and suppression efforts, an individual was found outside the structure with severe burns to their upper body,” a notice posted on CCFR’s Facebook page on Saturday. “The male victim was immediately transported by ambulance to Bartlett Regional Hospital and later medevaced out of town for specialized burn treatment.”
“While crews continued to fight the blaze and search for other potential victims, a second individual was located inside the residence. Tragically, this person was pronounced deceased at the scene by fire department personnel. Further investigation revealed a deceased dog inside the home, as well as a minor injury sustained by one additional occupant. He departed the scene without medical treatment.”
A firefighter carries a hose toward a Mendenhall Valley house still experiencing flareups hours after a fire started early Saturday morning. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
An initial post on CCFR’s Facebook page at about 4:30 a.m. stated the fire had been knocked down. However, additional firefighters were called back to the scene at about 8 a.m. due to ongoing flareups in the house.
“This fire taxed Juneau’s resources with all on duty personnel and available firefighters conducting firefighting operations, providing emergency medical care and responding to additional calls for EMS,” the fire department’s updated notice states.
An oil leak from the home’s heating system discovered by emergency responders was reported to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Spill Response Team.
A GoFundMe set up on behalf of Ruiz and her family has raised more than $29,000 was raised as of early Tuesday morning. Ruiz said she plans to use some of the money to bring her husband’s remains to Mexico, where he was born and has family, while some will be used to help with her cousin’s medical bills.
Ruiz said she plans to return to Juneau after her husband’s funeral and, while many people have donated items such as clothing and food, one of the major challenges she will face is finding a new place to live.
“I can’t describe the feeling of losing my husband, losing everything completely, everything we had, that we built,” she said. “It is just really hard the whole thing. And I am so, so thankful for everybody trying to help out and bringing whatever they can bring.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
A fire burns at a home on Aspen Avenue in the Mendenhall Valley early Saturday morning. (Capital City Fire / Rescue photo)
