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In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. January 22, 1914: There was an accident at the public school last night. The steam heat is on the hummer today and the school is out of business. Apparently there was a fire started in the furnace and after the boiler was hot, the cold water turned on and the whole front section burst. This is a very unfortunate occurrence to happen at this time of the year when the heat is an absolute necessity. Oscar Carlson and Ole Johnson are building two moveable stations 5x5x6 feet to hold the extinguishers...
It didn't matter what Ben Florschutz might have wanted. He wasn't going to get a sucking chest wound. "No chest wounds tonight!" said Fire Department administrator Dorianne Curley, putting the kibosh on Florschutz's plans. The wounds in this case were thankfully all simulated, though you wouldn't know it with a casual glance at Wrangell High senior Hannah Armstrong's left arm, which dribbled fake blood from a fake gunshot wound as she cradled it in the auditorium of the Nolan Center Thursday...
A fire destroyed the Allen mill site on Tuesday, July 30, leaving Mike Allen’s business venture a smoking heap of twisted metal and burnt lumber – and saw the largest response from the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department in recent memory. According to WVFD Fire Chief Tim Buness the fire began in the early afternoon and saw a quick response given the distance to the fire from the Zimovia substation and the Fire Hall. “We received the call at 2:08 p.m. and twelve minutes later the first engin...
Sentinel writer A house fire at 6 Mile Zimovia Highway on Tuesday, July 2 destroyed a home and saw the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department call an “all-out” for its firefighters in an effort to save the structure. The fire, which began at approximately 2 p.m., consumed the entire upper level of a home owned by Doug and Gail Thomas. The blaze is reported to have started in the rear portion of the home and quickly spread into the ceiling, requiring a response from both the WVFD Fire Hall and Zim...
Former Wrangell resident, Thorne W. Ferguson, Sr. passed away January 6, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nev. with his family by his side. A lifelong Alaskan he was born June 19, 1936 in Wrangell, Alaska the youngest of nine children. He attended school in Wrangell and was very involved in hunting, fishing and playing basketball. He and his future wife, Carol, were high school sweethearts with a love for each other that lasted over 60 years. Carol was a cheerleader and he was a basketball player. He was a me...
February wasn’t exactly the best month financially Wrangell Medical Center has seen, with the hospital showing a net loss of $184,124. According to WMC Chief Financial Officer Garth Hamblin, even though the hospital came in under budget for capital outlays, a downturn in revenue was to blame for the deficit. “For the month of February, total revenue charges was significantly under budget,” Hamblin wrote in his report to the WMC Board of Trustees during the group’s April 17 meeting. “Net re...
Sentinel writer When you look at a website, a business card, or just about any sign or graphical image you can imagine, you can expect to see information. That information is usually one-dimensional and does not extend beyond what you might see with your own eyes. A group of students from Wrangell High School are working to change that, however. An after-school “AVATAR” club led by WHS teacher Michele Galla has been working on developing a technology that will “augment” the reality of images...
Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department officer Jordan Buness walked away with both the EMT and Firefighter of The Year awards for 2012 during the department’s dinner on Saturday, April 13. Out of 261 ambulance calls last year, Buness responded to 208, and of the 21 fires fought, he responded to 17 of the blazes. Buness tied with Assistant Chief Terry Buness, for the Firefighter of The Year award....
William Dennis Eastaugh 1941- 2013 William Dennis Eastaugh died quietly at Wrangell Medical Center very early Tuesday morning, March 19, 2013. He was born in Wrangell at the old Bishop Rowe Hospital on August 25, 1941 and, as it happened, was the very first cesarean delivery ever in Wrangell. He attended grade school in the big old white schoolhouse that stood next to our library. The family lived on Greif Street in the old pink house opposite the Roman Catholic Church. As with many young boys,...
THANK YOU The WRANGELL VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT is to be commended for their superb handling of Dennis Eastaugh from home to the hospital. Several obstacles impeded the way: a steep incline in the path which was partly paved and partly loose gravel, tight corners within the house and a steep pitch to the driveway. Nothing insurmountable but certainly difficult. You entered the house and did what needed doing in a most professional way. You worked well together as a team, not just smoothly but flawlessly. How kind of you to have driven so cerem...
By Representative Peggy Wilson Hello again from Juneau. Another busy week has passed and my staff and I are settled into a routine or as close to a routine as is possible in Juneau. We are charging forward in the Resources Committee with a lot to accomplish this session. This week we have been thoroughly reviewing legislation that is designed to expedite the construction of an in-state natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to consumers in the rail belt region and to a saltwater terminal. We...
A group of firefighters from the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department train on a burning vehicle hull last week near the airport. WVFD is currently conducting Firefighter I training with the department....
A new mayor, renovations to the Shakes Island Tribal House and Marine Service Center, and the ongoing Wrangell Medical Center debate – all of these stories were newsmakers in 2012. Let’s take a look back at some of the biggest stories in Wrangell over the past year. JANUARY A late night blaze destroyed a trailer and sent a woman to Wrangell Medical Center with severe burns on Dec. 22. The fire, which began at 10:30 p.m. in a small pull-behind trailer near the top of the park, severely inj...
An electrical fire in the fish tank at the James and Elsie Nolan Center caused smoke but did no real damage to the building or its artifacts early last week. The smoldering fire, which originated in the light ballast of the tank, began sometime before five o’clock in the morning on Sunday, Dec. 23 and created enough smoke that the Nolan Center’s fire detection system was triggered. “After the fire system was engaged, it sent a call out to the monitoring service in Juneau,” said Wrangell Volunte...
The Wrangell Search and Rescue team swung into action on Sunday, Sept. 9 as they traveled up the Stikine River to extract a young man who had fallen from a moose blind. According to Chief Tim Buness of the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, the eight members of the SAR team were dispatched before dawn on Sunday, Sept. 9 to an area northeast of the borough. The teen had apparently been on a hunting trip with family when he attempted to climb down from the blind and slipped on steps that were wet from the extreme rains experienced last weekend....
Members of the Wrangell Fire Department assisted in a disaster drill held by the Wrangell Medical Center on Monday, Aug. 27 at Petroglyph Beach. From left: Carl Johnson, Mike Lane, Bernie Massin and Dee Dee Blatchley carry a volunteer participant off the beach....
The 18th annual Wrangell Health Fair was held Saturday, April 7 at the Nolan Center. The fair featured over 50 vendors and offered visitors the opportunity to have four different blood tests for $25 each. Residents still have just over a week to have the blood tests done at the discounted cost at Wrangell Medical Center. Above: Rebecca Smith has her blood pressure taken by MiKayla Stokes of the Volunteer Fire Department while at the Health Fair Saturday morning....
The Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) and the Local Community Preparedness Committee (LEPC) is planning to stage its annual emergency disaster drill on the flats of the Stikine River this year. Janet Buness, who works on emergency preparedness at the hospital has been tasked with planning the drill. Buness said she is hoping to stage a boat wreck on the flats with 30 “victims.” The drill should take place in late summer, Buness said, and should be a collaborative effort between WMC, the fire and police departments as well as other community org...
Kenneth Goodrich 73, of Ketchikan, died January 11, 2012, after a long illness. Ken was born April 22 1938, in Juneau, the son of the late Lloyd E. Goodrich and Thelma (Edwards) Goodrich. He was the oldest of 3 siblings. He grew up in Wrangell graduating from Wrangell High School in 1956. Ken survived alcohol to go on to enjoy a long career helping others battle addiction. He moved to Ketchikan in the early 70’s where he eventually worked at the KAR House and for the Ketchikan Gateway Human S...
A late night blaze destroyed a trailer and sent a woman to Wrangell Medical Center with severe burns on Thursday, Dec. 22. The fire, which began at 10:30 p.m. in a small pull-behind trailer near the top of the park, severely injured 48-year-old Kathryn Bartels. Thirty firefighters from the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, with three fire engines, two ambulances, and three rescue rigs took part in the effort to battle the blaze. According to Fire Marshal Bob Plumb of the Alaska Division of...
Governor Sean Parnell’s office honored a lifelong Wrangell resident and educator last week in Anchorage at the 2011 Emergency Medical Services symposium. During the event, Randy Churchill was awarded the EMS Educator Award in recognition of his 20 years of service as an EMS educator with the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department. According to the citation, Churchill was singled out for the award because of his junior firefighter program – a program that has become a model for fire departments in ot...
The Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department arrived in force to fight a fire that damaged a residence at Stough’s Trailer Park on Friday, Oct. 21. Fire Chief Tim Buness said the fire, which began around 10:30 a.m., started in a bathroom at the rear of a trailer in the park on Evergreen Avenue. “There was some structural damage, but it was not extensive and was confined to a relatively small area,” Buness said. Smoke was plentiful and seen billowing from the roof when firefighters began using foam...