At least four structures were destroyed in a fire overnight Thursday in the Western Alaska village of Kotlik, displacing newly arrived schoolteachers and potentially disrupting plans to start the school year next week.
State fire officials were on their way to investigate the cause of the fire, according to troopers spokesman Tim Despain.
Local tribal administrator Pauline Okitkun said several buildings were destroyed, but nobody was injured.
"We were awoken at about 1, 1:30 last night when the old school came down in flames," Okitkun said.
Okitkun said many Kotlik residents worked to fight the fire.
"Pretty much the community came together last night and worked together," Okitkun said. "During that time, they had to evacuate the teachers and the couple of families that lived in that area."
Daylight Thursday made the fire's toll clearer. The Hamilton Building which housed tribal offices, the old Kotlik high school, a duplex used to house teachers and a fourth structure were all destroyed, with damage discovered at the school district's main generator building, a storage shed containing food for students and the old school shop.
One family home was temporarily evacuated when heat from the flames warped an exterior wall, Okitkun said.
Local authorities had initially said the fire wouldn't delay plans to begin the school year on Tuesday, but Okitkun said the extent of the damage was making them reconsider whether that was possible.
"The school is totally without electricity," Okitkun said. "They probably wouldn't find out today — they're hoping to get the generator back up."
Parts of the fire were still burning later Thursday morning, Okitkun said. By Thursday afternoon, Kotlik residents were trying to extinguish hot spots amid the remnants of the destroyed structures.
"There's still people and volunteers out trying to make sure all of the flames are out," Okitkun said. "There's still smoke coming from the bottom of the debris."
Just six people — the residents of the destroyed duplex, recently arrived teachers and their families — were displaced by the blaze, according to Okitkun.
"Right now it's two families: that one family with the husband, wife and two kids, and the other family's husband-wife," Okitkun said. "They totally lost everything, they have no money or no food — first time in Alaska, they just came up last week."
Kotlik authorities were still working to learn the cause of the fire as well as its estimated damages, Okitkun said.
The fire has strained but not stopped plans for subsistence fishing, as well as opportunities for commercial fishing that were announced Thursday morning. As some residents prepare their boats, others are continuing to monitor the fire.
"We do have a number of volunteers, people that are here and not fishing, watching," Okitkun said.
Kotlik is a community of about 650 people roughly 35 miles northeast of Emmonak near the mouth of the Yukon River.