houston heroes showed up

Three teenagers just kept a wildfire from taking out part of Houston.

Early Saturday morning, a warming fire escaped its container near the Little Susitna River Campground. It was moving through dead grass and fallen logs with about a foot of flame.

Before fire crews arrived, three teens from the community had already set up a bucket brigade. They were hauling water from the Little Susitna River, carrying buckets about sixty feet to the fire's edge, back and forth, slowing the spread on their own.

When the Houston Fire Department got there alongside crews from West Lakes and Willow, the teens had already slowed things down just enough. The whole fire was out in ten minutes.

What started as roughly a one-foot-by-one-foot fire had grown to about thirty feet by fifteen by the time it was contained. The fire department director said wind could have easily pushed that through the forest and into nearby businesses. The teens changed what happened.

Fire officials confirmed the three had nothing to do with how the fire started. They just saw it, grabbed buckets, and started working. Houston Fire Director Christian Hartley said they just wanted to help, and that's what being part of a community looks like.

The department extended public thanks to the teens and their families. Because all three are minors, no names were released. But the whole town of Houston knows what they did, and Little Susitna Rotary Park is still standing because of it.