Whittier fire destroys building
Photo courtesy of the Girdwood Fire Dept.
On Tuesday, Oct. 25, an early afternoon fire destroyed a building at the Triangle on the waterfront in Whittier. The building housed the lone liquor store in the city. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
A raging fire in Whittier destroyed a building Tuesday, Oct. 25.
The fire was first reported around 12:35 p.m. when a series of cell phone calls went out among citizens who headed to fight the blaze that broke out in The Outpost liquor store, located in a wood frame building at the Triangle near the marine highway ferry terminal.
The Whittier Fire Department received a call at 12:56 p.m. and responded with two fire trucks.
“We had two engines on scene, and fire hoses were immediately hooked up to water hydrants near the building,” said Whittier Public Safety Director Dave Schofield.
Responders had to contend with high winds gusting up to 50 mph. Making conditions worse was ice-cold sea water spraying into firefighters as they battled the blaze. It took about two hours to extinguish the fire.
From eyewitness reports, it appears that the fire at the liquor store, owned by RC Collins, turned into a “General Alarm” blaze.
Faced with mounting flames, strong winds and bottles exploding inside the building, the fire was burning out of control and required the fire chief to send out an emergency call for help.
Assistance and equipment came from the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel fire department, which along with the Whittier Fire Dept., prevented the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings.
The Girdwood Fire Dept. sent out a rescue truck for assistance at 1:15 p.m. and arrived about 30 minutes later.
“The weather conditions on our side of the tunnel was some wind and rain, and on the Whittier side there were heavy winds but little rain,” said Captain Matt Olson, who was part of the Girdwood fire crew of four that responded.
“The liquor store itself was a lot of flames,” he said. “The winds weren’t helping because it was a wind-driven fire; the building was still fully involved when we got there. What was making it really difficult to extinguish was the wind, just getting the water on it. They (firefighters) really had a lot of work ahead of them getting the fire out. The roof had collapsed at that point.”
The fire was reported to be fully contained at 3 p.m. with work continuing on hot spots in the building.
“We sent one of our engines and 12 of our firefighters responded, and we suspended traffic through the tunnel for all but emergency vehicles,” said Gordon Burton, Facilities Manager for the Whittier tunnel. “They (tunnel firefighters) teamed with the Whittier Fire Department. The fire department provided support, handling hoses and operating engines.”
This was the second fire for the tunnel fire crew to respond to in Whittier since it opened in 2000 to vehicular traffic. Around seven or eight years ago, Burton said tunnel firefighters responded to transformer fire, “but this is the first time we’ve ever responded to a building fire in Whittier,” he said.
The state Dept. of Transportation maintains a full fire department at the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which is staffed by employees of Transfield Services, the subcontracting company currently operating the tunnel.
The building was a total loss. Two state fire marshals are still investigating the cause of the fire.
