Be advised, if you own a building and it catches fire, the Anchorage Fire Department may be blaming you for not providing security patrols of your property.
The department issued a statement that assigns blame to the property owner for a major fire last week that was set by vagrants who had taken over a former hotel in Spenard.
“Last week’s fire in Spenard shines a light on the dangers of makeshift sheltering and the need for proactive actions of property owners and the community,” said Chief Doug Schrage, referring to the fire at the former Americas Best Value Inn and Suites.
A good portion of the rooms were haphazardly and dangerously occupied despite most of the openings and exits being boarded up, according to Asst. Chief Brian Dean, Fire Marshal for the Anchorage Fire Department.
“Witnesses reported 30 to 40 people fleeing from the hotel before our firefighters arrived. Thankfully, they were able to rescue the last four individuals that couldn’t escape.”
Chief Schrage said that people should hire security companies to guard their properties.
“Property owners should check on their properties regularly or hire security to verify the properties haven’t been breached and unauthorized encampments haven’t sprouted. If they have, it needs to be reported so we can hopefully prevent a similar incident. This is a life safety issue. We are fortunate everyone made it out of this fire with their lives.”
Due to significant damage and risk of collapse, AFD investigators were unable to completely excavate the room where the fire started, the fire department said.
“While a definitive cause of the fire cannot be determined, there is ample evidence the fire inadvertently started as a result of improvised heating or cooking arrangements,” the fire department said.
In 2020, the Democrat mayor of Anchorage planned to buy the building and turn it into a homeless shelter. That was the plan of Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, who left office in disgrace before finalizing the purchase. His temporary successor, Austin Quinn-Davidson, scrapped the idea because the cost of renovating the hotel was too great.
The building “was supposed to be unoccupied and secured,” the fire department said. There is no power or water to the building and no smoke alarms or sprinklers that are working.
Numerous “buddy heaters, propane tanks, oil lamps, makeshift cooking arrangements and smoking materials were found throughout the ‘unoccupied’ building,” the department said. These apparently were used by the dozens of vagrants that had taken over the building, all without being discovered by police.
“Property owners have an obligation to keep their properties safe and secure. Vacant properties or suspected illegal occupancies can be reported online at #ANCWorks,” the fire department said, shifting public safety back to property owners, rather than the government, which has the job of public safety.
No, arrest the bums and send them back to where they came from, used to be called a “blue ticket”, on Alaska Airlines.
And who is paying this $2.34 million for the homeless? I would say the Anchorage assembly is very generous.
“…the fire inadvertently started as a result of improvised heating or cooking arrangements.”
No kidding? What a brilliant deduction given that the building had no power and was occupied by 30-40 bums.
My opinion of the fire department just went down a whole bunch of notches.
How was the occupancy by vagrants NOT noticed by APD?