A large Fairbanks building was destroyed by an hourslong fire Friday morning, drawing dozens of firefighters but no reports of any injuries.
University Fire Department Chief Douglas Schrage said Friday afternoon that nobody was hurt in the fire at the main building of the Ice Alaska Ice Park off Phillips Field Road near the Johansen Expressway.
"The adjacent fuel tanks became involved, which ended up rupturing and adding to the fire," Schrage said. "(Firefighters) attempted to suppress the fire in the building of origin; they were hampered by a lack of water supply, so they withdrew to a defensive position and concentrated their efforts on protecting nearby vehicles and buildings."
The Johansen Expressway access road (technically it’s Philips Field Road still) is closed for this long hose line. pic.twitter.com/aWiomtyIoK
— Sam Friedman (@FDNMoutdoors) December 16, 2016
In addition to automatic Fairbanks Fire Department assistance, Schrage said, the University of Alaska Fairbanks-based responders were aided by crews from the Steese and North Star fire departments, Chena Goldstream Fire and Rescue and Fort Wainwright — more than 35 firefighters in total.
The fire was first called in at 7:38 a.m. Fairbanks police said that both Phillips Field and Peger roads were closed as firefighters battled the blaze.
Crews weren't able to bring the blaze under control until about 12:30 p.m., Schrage said, and the main building is expected to be a total loss.
"The fire is still burning, but we have it completely contained so it's not going to spread or cause any more damage," Schrage said.
In a post on Ice Alaska's Facebook page, Heather Taggard said that "everyone is OK" after the fire, which was first reported as an electrical smell in the building and smoke rising from its boiler room.
"Smoke was coming from the boiler room," Taggard wrote. "Authorities were called. Fire went up, no one hurt."
The ice park routinely hosts the annual World Ice Championships for carved ice sculptures in March.
The state fire marshal's office has been contacted to help investigate the fire's cause. In the meantime, Schrage said, firefighters will be actively fighting the fire into Friday afternoon and still be present at the scene through much of the weekend.
"We'll have a fire watch there probably for a couple days," Schrage said.