Photos: Alaska Gold Dredge No. 3 Historic Gold Dredge No. 3 goes up in flames

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 8

Flames engulf the historic gold dredge north of Fairbanks.

A historic gold dredge in the Alaska interior went up in flames on Saturday yet found no firefighters coming to its aid.

Gold Dredge No. 3, north of Fairbanks, caught fire Saturday afternoon yet sits outside of both the jurisdiction of local fire service departments and the Alaska Division of Forestry, which had initially mobilized its crews to fight the blaze but wound up fighting another fire spotted just down the road.

Forestry aircraft responded to a call that the dredge was in flames; but upon arriving, the lead pilot spotted "a column of smoke of equal concern," farther down the road, Alaska Division of Forestry spokesperson Jim Schwarber said.

Once crews reached the Chatanika dredge, they discerned that it was a structure fire, which falls outside of the agency's training and scope of work. The crews assessed the fire, determined that it was not in danger of spreading to nearby forests, and quickly shifted their focus and resources about 30 miles up the road, to what is being called the Long Creek fire. With crews already mobilized, they were able to start dumping fire retardant and water on the blaze just minutes later, putting a damper on the fire considered to be in a "critical protection area" due to nearby homes.

The Chatanika Gold Dredge No. 3, which sits out of the Fairbanks North Star Borough fire service protection area, was left to burn.

READ MORE: Historic Alaska gold dredge, up in smoke