A structure fire Tuesday in the Northwest Arctic community of Kivalina has cut off electricity and cell service to the village of about 400 people. No injuries have been reported.
A spokesman for Alaska State Troopers says the fire was reported at roughly 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Chris Hatch, the Northwest Arctic Borough’s director of public safety, said information coming in from Kivalina was limited under the circumstances.
“We do have a team on the ground,” Hatch said. “In the last update I got on the actual fire itself, (it) was only the bingo hall and a community building were burnt.”
Hatch said Kivalina’s volunteer firefighters responded, and the fire was extinguished Wednesday morning. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
Hatch said the fire damaged electric infrastructure, and linemen were coming into the community Wednesday. He had no timeline on when electricity and cell service will be restored.
City and Tribal officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared the fire a state disaster Wednesday afternoon, activating emergency funds for the response. In a statement, his office said the bingo hall was destroyed in the blaze, with the power outage forcing more than 250 people to shelter at the local school overnight Tuesday.
Hatch said the Borough is working with several regional organizations, including Red Dog Mine operator Teck Resources, NANA and the Maniilaq Association, on incident response. He said the City of Kivalina plans to declare an emergency and expects the borough to follow suit.
