Saturday morning my Grand Nephew, Frank Hunt 26, and his wife Christina 31, were sleeping in due to being up quite late watching videos. They do family things every Friday night with the kids.
Christina had a couple of kids from a previous marriage. Her oldest son was living with his dad out of state.
Frank and Christina had two little boys, Frankie 7 and Ryan 4.
Her 13 year old daughter, Judy, was also still living with them.
The girl’s bedroom, along with the boy’s room, was in the front end of their trailer house. The dinning room and kitchen were near the middle area.
Down the hall there was a bathroom and the master bed room at the end.
At approximately 9:30 AM the smoke alarm went off about the time one of the boys came running into the bedroom to wake Frank and Christina. Their bedroom door had only been open a few inches. The smoke alarm was going off, but not making much noise. Frank had changed the batteries only two week before.
Frank and Christina jumped out of bed. Christina yelled for Frank to go get Judy out of her room.
Judy was screaming for them to get her out of there.
Frank tried to get down the hall but ran into a wall of flames, burning embers, and black smoke. He stumbled into the bathroom and almost fell into the shower tub. The trailer was completely black with smoke almost to the floor.
He finally managed to find and break the bathroom window with his hand, and dive out onto the snow. He ran to the door of the entry way near the front of the trailer and was in the process of kicking down the locked metal door, when a passer by stopped and assisted him.
Once inside, they kicked down the door that went into the front room. They were met by another wall of flames. He received a burn on his shoulder, hands, feet, and his hair was singed.
He was unable to rescue his daughter through the front room.
They ran around the end of the trailer to a window that went into his daughter’s bedroom. The room was filled with fire and smoke, and it was too late.
They then proceeded to the rear of the trailer expecting to find his wife and boys outside. He figured they should be outside by then. When he got to the back of the trailer the master bedroom was fully engulfed in flames. She had not been able to get the little boys out before she was over come by the smoke.
Frank was left standing in the snow with his underwear burned half off. He had heard his family die and was unable to do anything to save them.
I doubt if he will ever recover from this tragedy. His burns will heal, but he never will.
I can only imagine the ten thousand times he will ask himself if he could have done something differently.
I have thought a lot about it, and I would have done the same thing in that circumstance.
The Fire Chief told him he was a walking miracle to have made it out.
We are glad he did, but I don’t think he will understand it for many years to come.
No human should ever have to go through what Frank did. It was as bad as it could get.
The fire had started in the front room, according to the fire inspectors, although they couldn’t figure out just what had started the fire.
Christina had told her dad, in a phone conversation two weeks earlier, that she could smell rubber burning but couldn’t find out where it was coming from.
The media has told the story that Frank was uninjured, and was the only survivor due to jumping out the window, leaving his family behind. They made him look like some coward who bailed out and let his family die.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
He had done what any of us would have done. It is just that the trailer had literally exploded in less than a minute.
He was left without his family and not even clothes on his back.

I understand that there is a fund set up at the Alaska USA Credit Union in Soldotna, Alaska 99669, if anyone would like to contribute.

The family would like to express our deepest gratitude to the man who stopped by and helped Frank. They said that there’s not enough ways to thank him for stepping in and giving a hand when it was needed so desperately. If it wasn’t for him Frank would likely have been killed too.

Frank was born in Red Bluff, California, and grew up in Alaska.

George “Bubba” Hunt

The skin and head was turned over to the Fish and Wildlife Investigator, and the carcass was donated to a local trapper.
Personally, I am sad about putting down such a noble creature. I am relieved, but I do feel bad about it all.
I know I was blessed with safety and very lucky to be here. Still, I wished it had turned out differently.
It's just one of the hassles of life.
Tonight I will sleep a bunch easier. The fact remains that there are several more grizzly bears in the neighbor hood.
Hopefully they will make it to hibernation without any more problems.
Bubba n Lin Hunt, "Walking The Wilderness Trail"

I've heard that the Fish n Fin used to dump bad bears here on the Peninsula, that were causing trouble elsewhere.
I do know we have more bear maulings here than the rest of the state combined. It does look like we have a nice gene-pool of nasty critters. Although the local authorities won't admit it, we have far too many bears here than anywhere else. We really don't have than much growth, but things are expanding slowly.
Something has to "give" soon.
What we need is some factual bear management, which we don't have. We haven't had a bear season in many years because a dozen or so bears are killed by folks protecting their property each year.
So we now have an over abundance of bears.
Don't mistake me for one who thinks we should kill all of the bears. Some of you will surely try to pin that on me.
Read other blogs and you should figure that out.
I just know things are out of order right now with no relief in sight.
Until then, I will spend some sleepless nights doing what the local experts won't do!
I could just sit quietly like most, but I know that the freezer next door is ten feet away from the sliding door on the kitchen. Inside is a gal with three little kids that I happen to think the world of.
If the freezer is moved, as hopefully it will be by tomorrow, I wonder what a hungry 1000 pound bear will do??
Personally I don't like the odds.

Just after dark last night my phone rang and the gal next door was a bit worried. Her husband was off at work for a week, leaving her there with their three little kids.
She proceeded to say that a bear was outside eating on something.
Lin and I grabbed the guns, lights, and drove over there.
The grizz had opened their freezer, dragged out a dozen packages of frozen meat, and was chomping on it. Most of the folks on the mountain have freezers outside, including me.
The bear scooted off into the brush and hid.
The neighbor gal said if I used a little "stealth", I could probably sneak over and catch him.
I told her that I wasn't into a little "stealth" with a hungry bear trying to eat. I don't try to sneak up on a feeding bear in the middle of the night! Not chicken, just not real stupid either!
I called the Troopers and told them about the bear. They were busy and didn't seem to care much. I told them I was going to take a few steps if the bear kept up with the stealing. They reminded me to turn the head and hide into the Fish and Game if I whacked the bear. It's not bear season unless it is destroying property.
Once a bear starts breaking into things it has crossed the line of being a bad problem.
Tonight I will park over there and wait to see if the rascal comes back. I don't want to whack him, but I don't know if it will stay "scared off".
It is never safe to try to shoosh a grizz. We hate to have to shoosh a bear that is only scrounging for something to eat. Hopefully we will be able to help get all of the food tranferred into the new freezer in the shed.
Dealing with a grizz in close quarters is very risky at best, and I don't like having to do it.
It's a call I'll have to make tonight. We can't afford to let that critter break into their house.
I noticed that it had walked in front of my house last night. Those big foot prints weren't there yesterday.
It probably will come by and break into my house while I'm over guarding the neighbors.
We'll see.
Bubba n Lin, walking "The Wilderness Trail"