41.0°

At about 9 p.m. the city opened Centennial Hall to residents and tourists who wanted a smoke-free place to stay the night on cots. Five American Red Cross of Alaska volunteers were helping 41 people by 10:45 p.m., said Kelly Hurd, community relations manager for the agency.

At 9:45 p.m. fire officials said they were trying to figure out what was still burning. The fire was contained to one building.

Firefighters poured water from two and three hoses for several hours onto the burning roof of the old Skinner building, at the corner of Front and Seward streets. The two-story building at 213 Front St. housed the Subway sandwich shop, the Dragon Inn restaurant and other shops.

The fire apparently began when workers were pouring hot tar on the roof above the Dragon Inn restaurant, said city Fire Marshal Rich Etheridge. The workers tried to put out the fire for 15 minutes before calling Capital City Fire and Rescue at about 2:50 p.m., he said.

By the time firefighters arrived, "the fire was well-entrenched in the walls," said Acting Fire Chief Martin Beckner.

The fire spread rapidly in the century-old building, which over time has acquired several roofs in layers with empty space between them.

By 7 p.m. Etheridge, the incident commander, said firefighters were working to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings. The Dragon Inn, Subway and the second floor were complete losses, he said.

At a time when more than 7,000 cruise ship passengers and crew members were scheduled at nearby docks, smoke and official blockades choked off access to downtown. The fire attracted a crowd of hundreds, some sitting in truck beds on Main Street, some standing on the hill overlooking the area, some in the parking lot at the Sealaska building.

Trish Austin, co-owner of the Corner Teriyaki - which shared ground-floor space with Subway - learned of the fire around 3:30 p.m. She received a call from her partner, Donald Shaw, who was still working in their restaurant.

Then the fire ran wild. Austin arrived later, and although the smoke blocked her view, she insisted on staying there and watching the fire.

"We have so much stuff there," Austin said in distress from a block away.

At 3:45 p.m. - about an hour before firefighters started to pour onto the roof thick streams of water from two hoses at the top of extended ladders - the crowds stood at the intersection of Front and Seward streets. Workers at bars and the movie house brought out water and chests of ice for the firefighters.

Alaska Electric Light & Power turned off the electricity for about 30 minutes for several blocks around the fire until the Skinner building's power could be isolated. Patrons still sat in an unlit McDonald's, finishing their meals, the doors locked to new patrons. Some white smoke curled from under the lip of the roof above the Dragon Inn. Some firefighters were on the roof.

But once the hoses were turned on the roof, the acrid brown smoke became a force of nature. Police officers, coughing, redrew the yellow-taped boundaries ever backward from the fire, until the public was told to stand no closer than Main Street. A firefighter shouted that the smoke was hazardous.

Over time, police widened the area in which vehicles could not travel.

The smoke was so thick along Front Street at 5:15 p.m. that it filled it utterly. Only the sun was strong enough to be seen. The red trolley of the Juneau Trolley Car Co. materialized from the haze on South Franklin like a ghost. A cyclist rode by with his shirt pulled up over his mouth.

As firefighters used other hoses to put water through second-floor windows, black smoke billowed out, joining the brown murk that at times filled the street beside the Sealaska parking lot. From the ground, ridges of flames could be seen on the roof. But otherwise, the fire itself wasn't very visible to the public. The smoke was the spectacle.

Lisle Hebert, who owns the Nickelodeon theater in the Emporium building near the Skinner building, said the power went out at about 4 p.m.

"We had to close it down," he said.

By about 6 p.m. business on Front and South Franklin didn't have a choice. Fire officials walked down South Franklin past the Red Dog Saloon telling businesses to close. The Glory Hole shelter didn't evacuate, but it shut the front door and patrons used a rear door.

South Franklin was like a ghost town, the quiet broken by the beeping of smoke alarms. One side of the street wasn't visible from the other, except for a neon beer sign.

Some businesses had posted hand-lettered paper signs reading "We are open! Please close the door!" Those came down one by one.

Visitors from San Diego who were staying at the Baranof Hotel found themselves shut off from their lodging by foot or phone. They asked fire department chaplain Sam Dalin, wearing a handkerchief over his mouth, what to do.

"Everything's closed. We don't know who to see or where to call," said Howard Buxbaum.

The smoke retreated from South Franklin by 6:40 p.m., but then it blew north. At 8:30 p.m. the stench remained strong outside the Mendenhall Apartments. The smoke was impenetrable at South Franklin and Second Street. Patrons in the Baranof Hotel lobby wore masks over their noses and mouths, courtesy of the hotel, whose lobby held a light haze.

The hotel stayed open but some patrons chose to move elsewhere, said night manager Giovanni Davis.

"We have had a lot of checkouts, so it has affected business," he said.

At 8:45 p.m. there was a plume of black smoke rising above a forest of tall flames on the Skinner building's roof. The fire department had asked the city for more water pressure, and the city sent all it could, said Chaplain Dalin.

Matthew Maixner was one of about 10 people who sat in Centennial Hall at about 9:30 p.m., unsure whether they would be spending the night. It depended, literally, on which way the wind blew.

Maixner lives on Second and Gold streets. The smoke in his home by 6 p.m. was so bad he left with his dog and cat.

"I'm hoping that I can get home," he said.