America’s Best Hotel in Spenard is the scene of another structure fire. The Anchorage Fire Department had several units on location this morning. The photo above, posted on the Anchorage Road Conditions Facebook page, shows the fire raging.
In 2022, the hotel caught fire and a major portion of it was made unusable, with dozens of tenants displaced.
The hotel has been used to house homeless people in the past and the area around has become a vagrant hangout.
In 2020, former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz proposed buying the hotel to use as a homeless shelter, using CARES Act money that came available from the federal government during the Covid pandemic.
The Anchorage Fire Department reported it had had received multiple 9-1-1 reporting a fire in the abandoned building in the 4300 block of Spenard Road.
“Firefighters arrived on scene within minutes. They could see the flames engulfing part of the building and four individuals huddled on a balcony trapped by the fire. Firefighters quickly rescued all four of the individuals by using an aerial ladder truck and began efforts to extinguish the blaze. None of the rescued individuals reported any injuries to AFD personnel.
“Initially more than 30 firefighters responded. Shift change occurred while crews were on scene requiring them to swap out with the next shift. This is a large event that will require AFD personnel to be on scene much of the day. The cause and origin of the fire is under investigation,” the Fire Department said on Facebook. “Thank you to the Anchorage Police Department for showing up to secure the scene and having our back!”
