WASILLA -- Authorities say they still don't know what caused a massive fire Tuesday that destroyed a two-level commercial building in Wasilla that also contained two apartments.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough fire departments from Houston to Palmer, as well as firefighters from Chugiak, spent 15 hours fighting the stubborn blaze in the metal structure that was originally built in 1970, according to Mat-Su fire Chief James Steele.
The building, which was destroyed, was located between Wasilla-Fishhook Road and Nelson Avenue, near downtown Wasilla. The fire, reported just before 5 a.m., lit the pre-dawn skyline with an eerie glow and sent a plume of smoke over the city Tuesday.
A family of five -- a father and mother, as well as 17-, 15- and 10-year-old children -- escaped unhurt from an upstairs apartment, Steele said. An additional person got out of a smaller, downstairs apartment as well. Initial reports described only a four-person family living in the structure.
The fire also destroyed Happy Dawn's thrift store, the Wasilla location of Crescent Electric Supply Co. and a large bay jointly occupied by a wrestling group and Hope For Heroes Inc., a nonprofit established to help veterans and military families, especially around the holidays.
A few firefighters checked on the fire Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, and Steele said he went by on Wednesday. A few hot spots still smoldered in the debris.
The borough's fire investigator and an investigator working for the building owner's insurance company plan to meet at the building Thursday, which is the earliest any explanation of a cause might emerge, the chief said.
A Wells Fargo account has been set up to take donations for the Doughty family that lived in the upstairs apartment, according to staff at Iditarod Elementary School. Amy Doughty serves as PTA president at the school, which is attended by the couple's youngest son. The Wells Fargo account for donations is listed under the Doughty family, account number 9938191088, according to school administrators. Help For Heroes was also receiving an outpouring of support, representatives of the nonprofit said.
The huge warehouse-like building posed several challenges in terms of firefighting, Steele said: lots of different units with contents to fuel the fire; a metal roof that held in the heat and then collapsed, creating a barrier; and the type of construction in the older building, which went through numerous additions over time including the addition of a second story atop an existing roof. Crews also needed to use four fire hydrants, triggering hours of road closures.
But the firefighting effort also brought out the best in the Wasilla community, he said. Local residents brought over everything from bottled water and homemade soup to pizza and bags of fruit, supplying crews putting in long hours trying to contain and then clean up after the blaze. Taylored Restoration, a business next door to the fire, gave away doughnuts and coffee and opened its bathrooms to firefighters -- all while operating on generator power because the electricity was off.
"I got in this morning and Donut King had brought by dozens of doughnuts for the firefighters," Steele said Wednesday.