Man rescued in Alaskan wilderness more than 20 days after fire destroys home, kills dog
A man was rescued after surviving more than 20 days in the Alaskan wilderness after a fire burned down his cabin and killed his dog.
Tyson Steele, 30, was spotted Thursday more than 100 miles from Anchorage by a police helicopter responding to a request from his family to check on him, said Alaska State Trooper Zac Johnson.
"It's a pretty routine call for us," Johnson said. "This is the first time we've encountered somebody who's been through something quite so harrowing."
Hours after his rescue, a shower and a "McDonald's Combo Meal No. 2," Steele told police he'd been stranded since his cabin caught fire on Dec. 17 or 18, according to a detailed release.
"It started with a pretty hasty mistake," he told police. "I put a big piece of cardboard in the stove to start the fire. ... It sent a spark out through the chimney which landed on the roof."
Around 1 or 2 a.m., Steele woke to a cold cabin and the slow drip of fiery pieces of plastic coming through the roof above him. He rushed outside to pick up some snow and saw the whole roof was in flames.
He went back into the Quonset hut to grab blankets, coats and sleeping bags and told his dog, a 6-year-old chocolate lab named Phil, to get outside. When he went back inside to grab his rifle, he heard Phil howling and realized the dog never made it out.
“I have no words for what sorrow; it was just, just a scream. Just a visceral – not angry, not sad – just … all I could express, just scream,” he told troopers. “Felt like I tore my lung out."
He tried to use snow to put out the fire, but the flames caused several boxes of ammo and a propane tank to explode.
He waited until morning to take inventory and ration what was left of his food. Steele estimated he had enough supplies to eat twice a day for 30 days, but half of the cans had popped open in the heat causing the food to taste "like my home, just burning."
For the first two nights, he slept in a snow cave just large enough for his sleeping bags and some food. Then, he built a more comfortable shelter around the wood stove that once heated his home using tarps and lumber.
Steele decided that if no one had come for him after 35 days he would start the 5 mile trek to Donkey Creek Lake where he thought a neighbor might live.
He drew the SOS signal in the snow and used the ashes from the fireplace to make it black, rewriting the message each time it snowed. More than 20 days later, that message was finally spotted and he was rescued.
In aerial footage posted on the Alaska State Trooper's Facebook page, Steele can be seen waving his arms near the message in the thigh deep snow. Johnson said not many people could've survived in those conditions. He described Steele as "very resourceful and just determined to survive."
"These scenarios come up in Alaska and often people don’t make it. They're faced with what seems like impossible odds, and they give up," Johnson said. "The patience and determination it takes to pull something like that off is pretty inspiring."
Now, Steele plans to go back to Salt Lake City to stay with his family.
"They've got a dog," he said. "And that would be some therapy."
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Man survives more than 20 days in Alaskan wilderness after fire
