Fool survives for three weeks in Alaskan woods after burning tarp-dwelling down

[Checkmite]

He was just rescued after relatives in Utah, where he lived before traveling to Alaska in September, asked police to perform a welfare check (the man is white) as they hadn't heard from him in "weeks".

In aerial footage shared by the troopers, Tyson steps out among the snow-covered remains of his home, waving to the troopers in a helicopter, a large "SOS" carved out of the snow behind him.

"Everything that I owned was consolidated in that cabin," Steele told troopers, who shared Steele's survival account in the detailed release.

In the weeks after the fire, Steele said, he survived on the remnants of canned rations and peanut butter, sleeping in a snow cave and makeshift shelter that he built around his wood stove.

Steele had been living on his homestead, about 20 miles from Skwentna, since September, he told state troopers. He described his home as a Quonset hut -- a lightweight frame, covered in plastic tarps -- that he bought from a Vietnam veteran.

He admitted to the troopers that the fire resulted from a "hasty" mistake. In a hurry to get a fire started, he stuck a large piece of cardboard into his wood stove. He believes a piece of the flaming cardboard went out the chimney and landed on the roof.

Steele woke up in the middle of the night on either December 17 or 18 -- he couldn't recall the exact date, troopers said -- and heard melting plastic coming from the roof. After Steele stepped outside, he said, "I just see that the whole roof's on fire."

He didn't know enough about the surrounding area, including which of the many waterways in the area would be frozen over enough to cross, Steele told the troopers.

He gathered the food that survived the fire -- canned goods, some beans and peanut butter, and figured he had enough food to have two cans a day for a month. But a lot of the food had popped open in the heat of the blaze, he said, and mixed with the smoke of his burning hut.

"So it tastes like my home, just burning."

Steele had a "crappy" phone that he'd been using to check in with friends and family, but authorities said it was lost in the fire. So he hoped someone would call for a welfare check after they hadn't heard from him. If someone hadn't come by Day 35, he'd set out.

It's hard to choose where to begin with this. Let's start with the "home" itself I suppose. The man describes it as a "Quonset hut", but Quonset huts aren't made out of tarps, so what he actually seems to be describing is some kind of tarp-shed or carport - something never intended for long-term human habitation at any rate - and evidently he had decided despite his admitted unfamiliarity with the area that this would be a sufficient permanent home to pass the Alaskan winter in. Next, he decided that having a fire going inside this tarp-structure, his only source of shelter for 20 miles, ought to be A-OK.

Not actually knowing anything about the area - possibly including such details as "which direction to walk to find people" - when his phone was destroyed in the fire his only option was to ration the surviving remnants of his food and "hope someone (from Utah) would call for a welfare check".

I am glad he was rescued and I am sad that his dog was not lucky enough to survive this grand mistake; but what we seem to have here is another Christopher McCandless situation. This man had the sense to pack food with him at least (although perhaps not much more sense than that), but he very nearly lost it anyway.

 

[bluesjnr]

The story of the loss of his dog is harrowing.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

It's a Tarp!

 

[theprestige]

(the man is white)

Tell us more about his race.

 

[bluesjnr]

Tell us more about his race.

Then maybe cover why he is a "fool"?

 

[angrysoba]

Tell us more about his race.

I mean, "guy tries to live alone in Alaskan wilderness and burns his tarp house down" sort of makes "(by the way, he's white)" completely superfluous.

 

[casebro]

Not knowing which way to go, yet in range of a cell tower? Darwin.

 

[Trebuchet]

I misread "fool" as "food". He might as well have been.
There seems to be something about that state that attracts dingbats, and reality TV producers to film them.

 

[William Parcher]

This would never happen with a Universal Basic Income.

 

[Checkmite]

I mean, "guy tries to live alone in Alaskan wilderness and burns his tarp house down" sort of makes "(by the way, he's white)" completely superfluous.

Fair enough

 

[Checkmite]

Tell us more about his race.

I'm afraid that's all the information I have about it.

Then maybe cover why he is a "fool"?

Did you read the rest of the post?

Hmm, maybe you did and still don't understand. So I shall elaborate:

- It is foolish to use a tarp-shed as a permanent dwelling in any case

- It is particularly foolish to use it as a long-term dwelling in an Alaskan winter

- It is the height of foolishness to use fire inside a tarp shelter

- It is utter insanity to sleep whilst using fire inside a tarp shelter

- It is foolish for someone unfamiliar with the Alaskan winter and that area in particular to attempt to establish a permanent dwelling in a tarp-shed that's 20 miles away from the nearest village with no means of transportation in case of emergency.

I think that should about cover it.

 

[Pope130]

Thanks to modern emergency services another promising Darwin Award Nominee has failed to qualify.

 

[William Parcher]

As usual, if you want the full story go to Daily Mail. Pictures too. The fool...

‘It started with a pretty hasty mistake,’ Steele said.

‘My woodstove is very, very old. The mistake I made, I got hasty and I put a big piece of cardboard in the stove to start the fire.

‘Which I knew was a problem, I’ve had woodstoves all my life. I knew that you don’t do that.

‘So, it sent a spark out through the chimney which landed on the roof.’...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...e-Alaska-island-22-DAYS-home-burned-down.html

 

[William Parcher]

I speculate that he was living there like that because of mental illness or personality disorder.

 

[Elagabalus]

...I am glad he was rescued and I am sad that his dog was not lucky enough to survive this grand mistake; but what we seem to have here is another Christopher McCandless situation. This man had the sense to pack food with him at least (although perhaps not much more sense than that), but he very nearly lost it anyway.

In "Into The Wild," Jon Kraukauer devotes a few chapters to Alaskan dingbats. IIRC, one man who originally only wanted to spend the fall at his cabin in Alaska but still had to be flown in to do it. Well, he failed to make arrangements with the pilot (or any pilot) to come pick him up at such and such a date so he was forced to stay the winter. Unfortunately, he had decided to throw all his ammunition in the nearby lake (don't know why) and then had to get them out again and eventually killed himself because the winter was so harsh.

 

[Checkmite]

In "Into The Wild," Jon Kraukauer devotes a few chapters to Alaskan dingbats. IIRC, one man who originally only wanted to spend the fall at his cabin in Alaska but still had to be flown in to do it. Well, he failed to make arrangements with the pilot (or any pilot) to come pick him up at such and such a date so he was forced to stay the winter. Unfortunately, he had decided to throw all his ammunition in the nearby lake (don't know why) and then had to get them out again and eventually killed himself because the winter was so harsh.

Yeah, Carl McCunn. His eventual death was particularly sad because he was actually spotted at one point by a state police pilot who happened to fly over his campsite and McCunn, having assumed the pilot was positively looking for him and leading a rescue attempt, just waved at the pilot in a casual and friendly manner rather than making it clear he was in distress and wanted the pilot's attention. Oops.

One more half a point in this guy's favor, he had the presence of mind to draw a giant SOS in the snow for any pilots who happened along to notice.

 

[Thermal]

I'm afraid that's all the information I have about it.

Fascinating. Thought for sure you would say it was a cut and paste error or something.

So the guy's race has something to do with this? Pray tell, what?

Does being white mean he will be harder to find, blending in with the snow?

You added this parenthetically after saying his relatives called police in Alaska for a welfare check. Is this some kind of white request, or unusual that it would be a white request? Whatever a white request is, of course.

I mean, this is first sentence information? Really? Can't think how it would have any possible relevance.

I think that should about cover it.

The guy survived on his own in the Alaskan wilderness for months. Might he have gotten temporarily desperate, delirious, malnourished, or hypothermic, resulting in temporary poor judgement? You recently argued on another thread that people should not be responsible for their bad decisions if in financial straights; would not actual survival jeopardy excuse him from this judgement of foolishness you're laying on him?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Checkmite]

I speculate that he was living there like that because of mental illness or personality disorder.

That's always a possibility, but we don't really know for sure. McCandless and the other guy that Elagabalus brought up are two examples of a sort of common story of idealists who get this fanciful and romantic idea in their heads of going all mountain-man in the wild - typically in Alaska because that's where the most untraveled wilderness is - despite having either no outdoor experience at all, or mistaking basic hiking/backpacking or emergency survival knowledge for competency at sustainable wilderness homesteading. I suppose you could call it a kind of mania, maybe, but I'm unaware of any evidence that what we more popularly think of as mental illness, like depression or schizophrenia or the like, is common among people who do this.

 

[William Parcher]

My speculation is specific for this person.

 

[Checkmite]

So the guy's race has something to do with this? Pray tell, what?

Does being white mean he will be harder to find, blending in with the snow?

You added this parenthetically after saying his relatives called police in Alaska for a welfare check. Is this some kind of white request, or unusual that it would be a white request? Whatever a white request is, of course.

I mean, this is first sentence information? Really? Can't think how it would have any possible relevance.

Sorry, it was a cut and paste error. Please ignore it.

The guy survived on his own in the Alaskan wilderness for months. Might he have gotten temporarily desperate, delirious, malnourished, or hypothermic, resulting in temporary poor judgement? You recently argued on another thread that people should not be responsible for their bad decisions if in financial straights; would not actual survival jeopardy excuse him from this judgement of foolishness you're laying on him?

Inquiring minds want to know.

People in dire financial straits should not be held responsible for falling victim to fraud under pressure.

This man's poor judgement started long before he was in survival jeopardy, and I've already pointed out why so there's no reason to repeat myself on that part. It doesn't make sense to assert that the poor judgement which resulted in the fire accident was only "temporary" if his all of his previous judgement up to that point is what had gotten him into the "delirious, malnourished, hypothermic" state he was in at the time.