But the smoke and flames from wildfires ultimately became too much on Sunday, destroying the cabin he built himself three years ago.

Hemann, a Fort Dodge native, has been living in Alaska full-time since 2006.

The 61-year-old senior master in tae kwon do is known in the Fort Dodge area for teaching martial arts to an estimated 20,000 people during an almost 50-year span.

But Hemann knew ever since he was a child that living a self-sufficient lifestyle out in the wild was something he desired.

-Submitted photo
Thick clouds of smoke are visible for miles near Talkeetna, Alaska, where Paul Hemann lives. Hemann said wildfires have been raging all summer in Alaska. Fire and smoke recently consumed the log cabin Hemann was living in.

“To leave Iowa and come up here — it’s the challenge,” he told The Messenger Tuesday. “And it’s something I always wanted to do since I was like 4 or 5 years old, growing up in Fort Dodge. Going into the woods — I always had a hankering for wild places and living self-sufficient.”

Hemann visited Alaska in 1999 with his son, Jeff Hemann. Together they trapped wolves in what Hemann called “real remote wilderness.”

“We didn’t even have a generator,” Hemann said. “Strictly wood.”

That taste of adventure was exactly what Hemann said he craved.

And it would only be a matter of time before he pursued that lifestyle permanently.

“After my parents passed away, there was nothing holding me back,” Hemann said. “And I just left. I left a brand new home (in Fort Dodge) that had just been built a year prior.”

The first six years Hemann lived in Alaska, he was completely isolated.

“I moved up here that May, and by September was living remote,” he said.

In terms of any transportation, Hemann rode a snowmobile or a train to get to what he needed.

And Hemann has taken on a few different jobs since moving to The Last Frontier.

“Jeff and I were bear guards at one time and we’d be out for a month at a time guarding surveyers on the oil field from bear attacks,” Hemann said. “We were the body guards.”

About six years ago, Hemann sold a log cabin he was living in.

“I made some money,” he recalled. “I made over $100,000 overnight.”

Hemann, who is also an independent filmmaker, spent some of his funds to buy cameras and equipment.

“That stuff ain’t cheap, either,” he said.

Hemann would build another cabin in between Willow and Talkeetna, located in the south central part of the state.

“I built it in sections,” he said. “It’s my permanent home.”

Throughout his time in Alaska, Hemann has overcome his share of adversity.

“I have been through the largest interior Alaska earthquake ever recorded and that was in Fairbanks in 2002,” Hemann said. “It was a 7.9 earthquake.”

Hemann and his son were trapping in the Arctic, he said.

“Been through earthquakes,” Hemann added. “An active volcano in 2007. In March, it erupted and blew ash on my cabin.”

At first, Hemann thought the ash was snow.

“I put my hand on it, and that was warm snow,” he said. “Those particulants are very dangerous to breathe into your lungs.”

And if that wasn’t dangerous enough, Hemann has had to confront his share of grizzly bears, too.

“Grizzly bears coming through my cabin every day for two weeks and tearing everything up,” Hemann said. “And them standing up on their back feet growling at me. I stood there once and he looked at me and plowed off down the trail. You can’t believe how loud they run through trees at 30 miles an hour.”

He added, “Jeff has had to shoot a grizzly bear point blank.”

When asked what a person does with a dead grizzly bear, Hemann said, “Gut it out, skin it, and take the claws.”

He said grizzly bears don’t taste too good.

“People do not eat grizzly bear. It’s the worst meat you can eat. Black bear you can eat it — it’s good meat.”

Hemann said each person in Alaska can legally take three black bears and one grizzly bear a year with a standard hunting license.

“You always have to be aware of your situation,” Hemann said. “Because they can show up and be standing in your face ready to wrestle you.”

But this past weekend it wasn’t a grizzly bear or another wild animal that Hemann had to wrestle with.

It was unrelenting smoke from wildfires plaguing the state.

“We have fires going,” Hemann said as he was driving through Anchorage in his Chevrolet Cavalier with over 230,000 miles on it. “They have been going all summer. The whole state is on fire.”

Hemann said four fires broke out during a two-day stretch during the weekend.

“One a block down from me and they put that one out right away,” he said “And the next one, the other three were across the road (Parks Highway). It was very windy for three days and it blew it out of control. They had fire crews from all over fighting fires all over the state. Helicopters dumping stuff all over the state. They would scoop water up out of the lakes and dump it. But you just aren’t going to stay up with it when it’s that windy.”

Hemann didn’t think the fire would cross the road.

“I didn’t feel it would jump the road and I realized how ferocious these fires are,” he said.

On Saturday, Alaska State Troopers were evacuating residents in the area.

“Troopers were going down the gravel roads and kicking everyone out — they had to leave,” Hemann said. “But I ended up staying. I did not go because I knew I wasn’t in danger as of yet. But 24 hours later I was and my cabin was burned.”

He added, “All hell broke out on Sunday. The fires flared back up in two more spots and got out of control. It was a towering inferno. We had spotters out there looking for the fire as it was moving before it jumped the road. Once it jumped the road and was on our side, I knew we had to get out of there.”

Before leaving, Hemann picked up a neighbor with an ATV to help him get his wife.

Hemann was the last one to leave the area, he said.

“Once I took her up the road, I crossed the barrier of the road closure and the troopers would not let me back in,” Hemann said. “So they had nine miles of bumper to bumper cars backed up through this safety zone.”

After two hours had passed, Hemann would have one more chance to grab his belongings.

“I waited two hours and at that point I had to make a snap decision to get the hell in there and grab my $30,000 worth of camera equipment and fill two garbage sacks,” he said. “I had 10 minutes. My house and my driveway was on fire. The road was being encompassed by smoke and fire and flames.”

After that, Hemann walked five miles back to his car.

“I had to stay up on a mountain — basically it was like a haunted house on top of a mountain for a night,” he said. “The temperatures got down to 24 degrees and cold, and I had the clothes on my back — socks, pants, shirt. I had to buy a bunch of clothes last night. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe at Target. My tools and building supplies are gone. Keepsakes and memorabilia, gone.”

The wildfires consumed over 3,000 acres and 150 homes in one day, Hemann said.

“Entire campgrounds gone,” he said. “Four-story buildings. It smells terrible and it’s all ashy”

Hemann is staying with his daughter, Emily Lyon, in Anchorage. She started a GoFundMe page to help Hemann rebuild.

“The fires are not going away,” he said. “It’s a major problem. It’s just been dry and this has been the hottest summer they have ever had since records have been kept. It has to do with global warming. If you are up here, you will see it.”

To help Hemann rebuild, search “Paul Hemann-Talkeetna Forest Fire Relief Fund” on the GoFundMe website.

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