Glennallen’s only hotel burned to the ground Wednesday. Everyone got out of the Caribou Hotel safely, but the president of the local chamber of commerce says it’s a big loss, both to the community and for travelers passing through the area.
Alaska State Troopers say they got a report just after 8 a.m. of smoke coming out of the Caribou Hotel in downtown Glennallen.
Troopers and emergency personnel from three area EMS agencies responded and ensured that everyone staying in the hotel had evacuated.
James Fields, who co-owns the business along with his brother, said the guests and a handful of workers who lived at the hotel got out quickly.
“I think there was like 15 occupants,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “And then of course there were some employees that had some housing in there.”
At least five vehicles in the parking lot were damaged by the fire, and some were totaled, according to Troopers.
Fields said community members scrambled to help the people staying in the hotel.
“We’ve had plenty of people that’ve come out that’ve said, ‘I’ve got a room here, I’ve got a room there,’” he said.
Jordanny Sutherland, president of the Glennallen-based Copper Valley Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday afternoon that she was shocked to see smoke and flames engulfing the log structure.
“It’s devastating,” she said. “I can’t believe it happened. I saw it on my way to work this morning.”
She said the loss of the hotel will affect travelers passing through on their way to Anchorage, and that it will be even worse for people driving to Valdez when heavy snow closes Thompson Pass.
“It's going to be hard for anybody to find a place to stay around here, I think this winter,” Sutherland said.
She said mushers competing in the Copper Basin 300 sled dog race usually stay at the Caribou Hotel every January. She said there are few AirB’n’B-type rentals in town, but far fewer places to stay now that the hotel’s 55 rooms are gone.
“We have to have a hotel here,” Sutherland said.
Fields said he and his brother already are talking about rebuilding the Caribou Hotel, but it’s too soon to commit to that. They’ve got more immediate tasks to get to, like talking today with an insurance adjuster and two deputy state fire marshals.
The adjuster will help the Fields brothers come up with a dollar value for the loss so they can make an insurance claim.