On Saturday morning, June 9th, 2007, 9-1-1 dispatch received a telephone call from the occupant of a dwelling located at 26960 Willawa Street in Kasilof, reporting smoke in the basement.

Within 12 minutes of the initial 9-1-1 call, CES engine 4 arrived on scene and reported smoke coming from the eves of a single story, wood frame residential structure. Three engines, three tankers, a medic unit, a rescue truck, a ladder truck and three command vehicles responded to the scene. 22 paid and on-call personnel staffed the fire equipment. Kenai Fire Department responded with two personnel and an engine after being requested mutual aid from the CES incident commander.

Fire crews were hampered in suppression efforts after entering the front of the home and finding parts of the floor missing, having been burned through by the fire. Fire officials soon discovered the entire basement was completely engulfed in flames. Soon after discovering the missing floor, the supporting structural walls deteriorated, causing the home to start sinking into the basement. The signal was given for firefighters to evacuate the residence and all interior firefighting efforts were suspended and exterior defensive positions were taken up. The fire was declared under control within two hours of the arrival of the first engine.

The single story structure, with a full basement, was completely destroyed. The occupant was home at the time of the fire and indicated that she smelled smoke and heard the smoke detector sounding in the basement. After entering the basement, the occupant noticed smoke and went back upstairs to find a fire extinguisher. 9-1-1 was called after the occupant was forced to flee from the basement by the smoke.

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