Building fire destroys four businesses and four apartments in Haines

This is a breaking news story that will be updated.

A small crowd gathered Saturday night watching as a fire ate through the building that houses Haines’ Quick Shop, Outfitter Liquor, Outfitter Sporting Goods, Mike’s Bikes & Boards, and four apartments.

No one reported any injuries and, at first, it seemed as though Haines Volunteer Firefighters were going to be able to contain flames.

But as the fire got larger and more involved, the crowd swelled. Dozens sat in the small boat harbor parking lot or along Front Street, watching as the fire grew massive and the building started to collapse in on itself.

The trouble started just before 9:30 p.m. 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.

[I] smelled smoke right after,” he said.

Mahoney said he called 911 and then his boss Mike Ward, though he had some trouble getting through to the latter.

“I was out sleeping,” said Ward as he paced up and down the sidewalk watching his businesses burn late Saturday. “I hauled a**””

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 interrupt 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 sometimes 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 insurance purposes.

“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.”

In addition to Ward’s business losses, there were two families and two men living in apartments above the shops.

By all reports at the scene of the fire, they all got out safely – but it’s not clear how much warning they had or what they were able to get out of their homes.

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 off of 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 of the sports shop.

He 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 like in hotels,” Fullerton said.

He praised firefighters for making “extraordinary efforts to secure and save the building.”

As he spoke, a call went out for help from the Klehini Valley Volunteer Fire Department in Mosquito Lake some half an hour away.

“The whole valley will assist when necessary,” he said. “It’s unusual. I’ve never, in my nine years of being here, been aware that there has been a situation like that to require that kind of assistance.”

Fullerton said investigators would be digging into what happened to spark 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.”

• This story originally appeared in the Chilkat Valley News.