A fire Saturday night destroyed a building in Haines that housed four businesses and four apartments.
No one reported any injuries.
Flames poured out of the second floor and above the roof as firefighters tried to control the blaze, which eventually took down the wood-frame building.
The Haines’ Quick Shop, Outfitter Liquor, Outfitter Sporting Goods, Mike’s Bikes & Boards and the apartments occupied the two-story building across the street from the waterfront.
The trouble started just before 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, while Dan Mahoney was working at the front counter of the convenience store when a man living in an apartment above the shops came downstairs to alert him about a fire.
Mahoney said he called 911 and then his boss, Mike Ward.
“I was out sleeping,” said Ward as he paced up and down the sidewalk, watching his businesses burn late Saturday. “I hauled ass.”
This isn’t the first time the building has caught fire. Ward said it also burned in 1994, but that fire was relatively small and he was only closed for a few hours at that time.
Ward said he has insurance.
“I have good insurance. I’ve got business interruption insurance; if I shut down I’ll get money,” he said. “I’ve never had to use it. But it looks like I’m going to have to this time.”
But even with insurance, Ward said some things are hard to replace. “On the drive to town, I was thinking about my inventory file,” he said. “I don’t keep a backup off-site.”
That could make it tricky to account for everything for his insurance claim. “I’ve got a million dollars in inventory there,” he said. “I wasn’t ready for this. I feel like I’m losing part of my life here.”
Haines police officer Michael Fullerton was off duty but called in to help out with the fire. He spent his time reminding onlookers to keep back far enough from the flames to avoid potential injury. In addition to the toxic smoke billowing from the building, there was a very real potential for an explosion given the fire’s proximity to a several-hundred-gallon diesel tank and the volume of ammunition inside the sports shop.
Fullerton said he was told that all tenants had been accounted for and were being helped by The Salvation Army.
“Local resources have already been secured for the evening as far as putting people who are displaced in hotels,” Fullerton said.
Fullerton said investigators would be digging into what happened to start the fire. “We’ll be investigating this fire until we’re satisfied that this is a normal fire,” he said. “Until we’re certain of that.”
Reader Comments(0)