After a massive fire that destroyed five buildings in the Yukon River village of Emmonak last weekend, state officials are en route to investigate and managers for a local fisheries company are scrambling to replace the structures.
Kwik'Pak Fisheries lost three structures to the fire, which was discovered Saturday night but left to burn when equipment failed during initial efforts to fight it. Flames soon spread to two other Kwik'Pak buildings, as well as a pair operated by local boat builder Yukon Marine Manufacturing. No injuries were reported, but Alaska State Troopers said the fire did at least $3 million in damage.
Jack Schultheis, Kwik'Pak's manager, said Tuesday trooper William Connors and Emmonak village public safety officer Jay Levan, plus the company's caretaker employees, constituted the full response to the fire Saturday. Staff at the Emmonak city offices said no local officials were available to comment on the fire Tuesday morning.
"The trooper and the VPSO were the only two governmental types fighting the fire," Schultheis said. "The people we had there, which totaled four people fighting the fire for lack of equipment, did everything they could."
Even with the lack of personnel, Schultheis said, the fire could have been contained if gear in the area had been working. Connors said Sunday water pumps weren't working, and ice augers meant to help crews draw water from the Yukon River weren't available.
"We have three fire hydrants on the property; all of those hydrants were froze up," Schultheis said. "It's just sad, it's the circumstances of Western Alaska -- that's how it is."
According to Schultheis, the Kwik'Pak buildings lost in the fire -- a combination office building and warehouse, where it began, plus two dormitories -- were rated for seasonal use and fully occupied roughly 100 days a year.
"We've had those facilities there for years -- we've never had a problem," Schultheis said. "All the wiring was done to code, we spent a fortune upgrading these buildings to code, and this thing still happened."
Dave Tyler, the state fire marshal, said deputy fire marshals were en route to Emmonak on Tuesday. Troopers had said Monday no immediate response was planned, but Tyler said the fire subsequently burned out, easing concerns about exposure to hazardous materials.
"They left this morning and they're looking to see what they can do about a cause determination," Tyler said. "They're also going to look at the condition of the firefighting equipment."
Tyler said his office's role focuses on advocacy for fire safety, as well as inspections of major or fatal fires not covered under other jurisdictions. That means he doesn't have power to order improvements even if deficiencies are found in Emmonak, which received a "Code Red" box of firefighting equipment designed for rural Alaska villages in July 2003; local firefighters were trained on its use in August 2004.
"We can do nothing," Tyler said. "We don't have authority over the fire departments -- in some states that may be possible, but that's not the way it is here."
Tyler, himself a former firefighter with the Steese Volunteer Fire Department, said the factors behind any local fire response reach beyond the firefighters themselves.
"The sad part is, a good fire department is part of a community, and a community has to really want it and make it happen," Tyler said.
In situations where a fire department's gear hasn't received proper upkeep, Tyler said, "the community's not as involved in it as they need to be." He cited the fire department in Ninilchik, on the Kenai Peninsula, as an example of what that community involvement looks like.
"They don't have a tax base but they're involved," Tyler said. "All summer long, they're selling pancakes to tourists to keep that fire department going."
Tyler said Levan, the local VPSO who also serves as the chief of Emmonak's volunteer fire department, has been actively engaged in trying to meet volunteers' needs.
"You have to have quality training, and you have to keep the volunteers interested -- you have to have activities," Tyler said. "I know Chief Levan puts on volunteer training each week, and I don't know what kind of interest he gets."
Asked about the lack of functioning hydrants reported by Schultheis, Tyler said even their presence shouldn't be taken for granted.
"Having the hydrants is not a common thing; it takes some money, it takes some infrastructure to do that," Tyler said. "People come up from the Lower 48 and ask, 'Where are all the fire hydrants?' and I say, 'This isn't the Lower 48 -- there isn't a fire hydrant on every corner.'"
While state firefighter certifications include Firefighter I, a traditional level of training that includes the use of air packs to enter burning buildings, Tyler said a newer Firefighter II certification is focused on safety.
"We've set up a training standard below (Firefighter I) for our rural fire departments," Tyler said. "The main emphasis with that is safety -- we're emphasizing fire prevention and education, because the best fire is one that doesn't even start."
Schultheis said the main Kwik'Pak facilities in Emmonak -- where the company's workers flash-freeze 4 million to 5 million pounds of salmon and whitefish a year -- were spared in the weekend blaze. He said this year's production should be on track, assuming new dormitories can be built to house the roughly 500 people Kwik'Pak directly employs during summer.
"Those communities depend on that fishery; it's all they have for income," Schultheis said. "It's our job -- it's my job -- to make sure we're operational by the first of June."
Although discussions are ongoing about what kind of fire-safety measures Kwik'Pak's new facilities in Emmonak will include, Schultheis said the company hopes to begin construction as soon as its insurers sign off on a plan and the land is cleared.
"We're talking to Lynden Air Cargo about getting materials in there to start building immediately," Schultheis said. "I think we hope to start building within the week."
Both Kwik'Pak and Yukon Marine Manufacturing are operated by the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association -- one of several groups created under the Magnuson-Stevens Act's Community Development Quota program, which allocates portions of Bering Sea fishing and crabbing quotas to local villages.