Alaska National Guard soldiers, with help from some volunteers, will help maintain order in the fire-ravaged village of Hooper Bay.
Police in the Southwest Alaska village of 1,133 are facing a surge in calls since the massive Aug. 3 fire, Police Chief James Hoelscher said Wednesday.
Hooper Bayers are panicky, and rightfully so -- especially if they see kids playing with matches, he said.
"Everybody's on edge, including myself," he said, putting a caller on hold to answer what he said was another phone call about children mucking among the blackened rubble.
"We don't want anything like this to ever happen again."
Hooper Bay's old school erupted in flames early Aug. 3. Within hours the blaze had flattened 14 homes, teacher housing, a grocery store and several small structures in one of the most devastating fires to hit rural Alaska.
Alaska State Troopers are investigating the cause and arson has not been ruled out, spokesman Greg Wilkinson said.
No one was injured, but more than 70 people lost everything. And as the summer draws to a close, about 400 students are without a school.
Four volunteers with the Alaska State Defense Force, civilians who assist during emergencies under the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, will help police shoo kids from the dangerous piles of twisted metal rising from the soot where the fire raged, Hoelscher said.
Seven guardsmen will help patrol the village and keep the peace.
Troopers, still investigating the blaze with state fire marshals, returned to Hooper Bay earlier this week, Wilkinson said. Officers are interviewing more residents, he said.
Gov. Frank Murkowski declared the fire a disaster Sunday while touring the village, freeing up state financial assistance for victims and clearing the way for the state to seek a federal disaster declaration.
Victims have until Oct. 9 to apply at the local armory, where the state has set up a disaster assistance center, for up to $5,000 to replace destroyed property such as clothing, tools or hunting essentials like snowmachines, said McHugh Pierre, spokesman with Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Out-of-village residents, such as teachers who lost belongings when school housing units burned, have until Oct. 10 to apply by calling 800-921-3682, Pierre said.
Hooper Bay has also been given the first satellite phone in a new $1.5 million program to put emergency phones in every remote village, said Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of Alaska.
The state is shipping seven or so temporary housing units, such as construction trailers and modular homes, to the village, Councilman Marc Cowart said.
The homes will arrive on a barge that left Seattle today, Pierre said, and should reach the Bering Sea coastal village before freeze-up.
As for the new school, the state's Village Safe Water program is pitching in there, Cowart said. The school was under construction and scheduled to be completed in December. The state program is now running work crews around-the-clock to get the job done sooner, he said.
