Updated at 3:45 p.m.
Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire at The Old Field Kitchen restaurant in the Fort Seward Parade Grounds.
Haines Volunteer Fire Department received a call at 7:08 a.m. Saturday. By the time firefighters arrived, the building was on fire in multiple areas.
“It was fully involved when we pulled up,” fire chief Brian Clay said.
Clay said no one was in the building when the fire department arrived. Owned and operated by Sarah Bishop, The Old Field Kitchen was open and serving food until late Friday evening.
Clay said more than a dozen volunteer firefighters got the fire under control within a half-hour of arriving. They focused on keeping the fire from spreading to the replica of a Chilkat tribal house, as well as preventing a nearby fuel barrel and propane tank from catching fire.
Thick ice blanketed the parade grounds and hampered their efforts.
“It didn’t make it easy,” he said.
Multiple people fell, and Clay said he knocked at least one person down with a hose. But he did not think anyone was injured.
Clay said where the fire started or what caused it was not immediately clear, but officials are still investigating.
By 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning, a borough excavator headed toward the building to pull back a collapsed portion of the roof so firefighters could safely get inside and tackle the rest of the fire.
“We’ve got some hot spots we’ve got to put out,” said Clay, who estimated the building was a total loss.
In a message on Saturday afternoon Bishop thanked everyone in the community who reached out to her as news of the fire spread, and volunteer firefighters for doing all they could.
“My family and I are processing this sudden and massive loss,” she wrote.
“For now, I’m taking it one step at a time, plans for what’s next will come later,” she wrote. Bishop has operated the Old Field Kitchen since 2019.
The nearby Lighting of the Fort ceremony, an annual tradition in which the Fort is illuminated with Christmas lights, was scheduled for Saturday evening. The ceremony has been postponed, according to organizer and fort resident Kiara Hylton.
“It seems a little disrespectful to blow a cannon and have a bonfire here today, or even next week,” she said.
So, tonight, residents of the fort will turn their holiday lights on at the top of the hill when it gets dark.
Then on Saturday, Dec. 14 after the parade Hylton said they currently plan to have a celebration, bonfire, and hot dog roast in the park next to the brewery and the borough’s administration building.