Fire Takes 3 Lives And Wipes Out Curry Hotel
The Curry Hotel, famous Alaska landmark since 1918 and the overnight stopping place of all travelers to Fairbanks before the modern trains were installed with sleeper and diner, was burned to the ground Tuesday morning, taking with it three lives, Evon Heare, wife of a section gang laborer, and little Christine and Charles Blakely, two and one years old respectively, children of James E. Blakely, hotel employee, and Mrs. Blakely.
Helen Ames, waitress at the hotel had been serving breakfast to Mrs. Blakely in the hotel dining room at 6:10 a.m. Two ACS boys, Buzz Hall and Vernon Herrick, had just completed their shift and were doing some chores for the waitress. Three other ACS soldiers, Pete Ratti, Terrence Bruce and Stanley Wellenburg were either at work at the ACS Communications center or were asleep in the basement dormitory. Burt Carlson, a railroad section hand, was asleep in the dormitory.
Mrs. Blakely rose to see if her youngsters were still asleep. She wanted them to have breakfast and an early start on the day. At 6:15 a.m. she returned to the dining room. The youngsters were still asleep and Mrs. Blakely hadn't chosen to waken them.
Minutes later Arne Omholt, the hotel manager, rushed into the dining room. His hair and eyebrows were singed.
"Room 84's on fire," he yelled. The room, in the center of the first floor of the hotel had erupted in a sheet of flame. Omholt, sleeping nearby, had awakened to the smell of smoke. He rushed to awaken his own children, Karen 10, July 3 and Ralph. 8, asleep in separate rooms opening off the hotel lobby. Their mother was in Anchorage under treatment at Providence hospital for a liver ailment.
Mrs. Blakely tried to rush into the flames that were by then sweeping the corridor, "My, my babies!" she cried.
The men sleeping in the dormitory were routed. Until the building crumbled around them they attempted to reach the Blakely children. One ACS man, Pete Ratti, reached the window of the Blakely room but was forced back by the flames.
Cause of the fire was not ascertained. First word came to Fairbanks from the operation at Curry who called, shouted "the hotel is on fire!" before communications were cut off. In slightly more than an hour the hotel was completely destroyed. The only property saved were records and cash in the ACS office.
Further details came from Anchorage after Alaska Railroad officials went up from Anchorage. Surviving relatives of the Curry Hotel fire victims were recovering from shock yesterday at Providence hospital. These included Gordon Heare whose wife, Evon, died in the fire, and James E. Blakely who children lost their lives. Mrs. Heare's mother, Mrs. Baird of Anchorage, also spent the night at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the Alaska Railroad is taking steps to install new facilities at the community of Curry. The hotel had housed the Alaska Communication System repeater station, the U.S. Post Office, railroad ticket office and baggage room, restaurant and bar. It provided accommodations for railroad employees and tourists.
The railroad has taken over one of the present section houses near the former hotel site to convert to a new depot and a communications center. Until these arrangements are completed, a troop sleeper with communications equipment and a baggage car as an office will serve temporarily.
A dormitory building near the burned out hotel will serve as a new mess for train crews. Arnold Omholt who leased the hotel has been hired by the railroad as cook to operate the kitchen and dining hall.
The hotel was valued at about $750.000. Formerly used as an overnight stop all travel to Fairbanks, in recent years its use was largely restricted to ARR personnel, hunters, fisherman and skiers.
- Jessen's Weekly, Fairbanks, Alaska, Thursday April 11, 1957
3 Die in Curry Hotel Fire
2 Children, Woman Victims Of Disaster
Fast-Spreading Blaze Levels 75-Room Wood Building In One Hour
Three persons - including two small children - perished when a roaring fire destroyed the railroad hotel at Curry today.
The 75-room wooden structure burned to the ground less than an hour after the first flames were discovered at 6:21 a.m.
The dead were identified by the Alaska Railroad as:
Christine Blakely, 2, and her brother Charles, 1. Their parents are Mr. and Mrs. James Blakely. He is employed at the hotel.
Mrs. Evon Heare, wife of a railroad extra gang laborer at Broad Pass.
There were no other injuries reported.
Witnesses said that three minutes after the fire broke out the entire building was engulfed in flames. Firefighters in the tiny village had only light equipment and were hampered with low pressure when they drew water from nearby Dead Horse Creek.
The deaths were reported by John H. Lloyd, Alaska Railroad general manager, who headed a team of officials which flew to the ruins this morning.
The blaze also knocked out communications to Curry, Midway between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Lloyd made his report over a temporary patch which went out as he talked with Chief Dispatcher F. W. Belgard here.
Loss was estimated at more than $500,000.
When communications first went out a lineman climbed a pole at Curry and advised Fairbanks that only cash and records of the Alaska Communications System were saved from the fire.
Cause of the blaze is unknown.
But shortly before 7 a.m. the Curry agent was heard shouting over the phone that "the hotel is burning." The Curry operator reported the fire was rapidly spreading out of control from the rear of the building.
The hotel was once the finest structure on the railroad. President Warren G. Harding stopped there when he dedicated the railroad.
Before the railroad was modernized the trip to Fairbanks was a two-day affair and travelers spent the night at the two-story wooden Curry hotel.
Two years ago it was leased by Arnold Omholt who lives in the building.
When the fire erupted today about 15 persons were staying at the hotel. Most were railroad maintenance and snow removal crewmen.
This morning at 4 a.m. eight men had left Curry for Anchorage, leaving only a dozen to battle the fire, with hose carts, auxiliary pumps and hydrants.
Lloyd left aboard a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plane. With him were R.H. Bruce, general superintendent and Max Hoekzema, a lineman.
The T-shaped building is 248 miles north of Anchorage by rail. Part of the building faces the broad Susitna River.
In addition to the now unused suites and rooms, the hotel had a restaurant, bar, railroad dormitory, post office and ACS office.
- Anchorage Daily Times, Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, April 9, 1957
Life Begins Anew For Mother Of Young Curry Hotel Fire Victims
Linda Blakely is starting on a new life today.
The 23-year-old mother lost her two young children in the blaze yesterday that gutted the Curry Hotel. The children - 2-year-old Christine and year-old Charles -.died as they slept in their fire swept hotel room.
Mrs. Evon Hoare, wife of a section laborer on the Alaska Railroad, also died in the blaze. Her husband was flown to Anchorage yesterday. He is being treated for shock at Providence Hospital. Mrs. Heare's mother, Mrs. Edith Baird of Anchorage, was released this morning from the hospital.
At her employer's urging, Mrs. Baird spent the night at the hospital so she wouldn't have to spend the night alone in her grief.
Other survivors of the blaze have begun building new lives, while the hotel ashes still smolder, by the railroad track at Curry.
Helen Ames, a waitress at the hotel, accompanied Mrs. Blakely to Anchorage. Miss Ames shared a hotel room with Mrs. Blakely and comforted the bereaved mother through the night.
Miss Ames and Mrs. Blakely lost everything but the clothes they wore. They have appealed to Anchorage residents for clothing and financial assistance.
Contributions may be sent to Miss Ames and Mrs. Blakely, care of the Salvation Army headquarters, Reed Building, Fourth Avenue and F Street.
Arnold Omholt, manager of the hotel, has been hired by the railroad as a cook. Omholt, who ran the hotel privately under contract, will operate the kitchen and dining hall for train crews coming into Curry. The railroad converted a dormitory near the burned-out hotel into a mess hall.
Other temporary facilities were sent to the hotel site to replace the gutted depot and communications center.
Miss Ames this morning gave a first person account of the blaze. Here, pieced together with other accounts, is the narrative of the Curry Hotel fire:
Miss Ames at 6:10 a.m. was serving Mrs Blakely breakfast in the hotel dining room.
Two Alaska Communications System boys - Buzz Hall and Vernon Herrick - had just completed their shift and were doing some chores for the waitress.
Three other ACS soldiers - Pete Ratti, Terrence Bruce and Stanley Wallenburg - were either at work at the ACS communications center in the hotel or asleep in the hotel's basement dormitory. Burt Carlson, a railroad section hand, was asleep in the dormitory.
Mrs. Blakely rose to see if her children were still sleeping. She wanted them to have breakfast and have an early start on the day. At 6:15 she returned to the dining room. The youngsters were still asleep and Mrs. Blakely hadn't chosen to waken them.
Minutes later Omholt, the manager, rushed into the dining room. His hair and eyebrows were singed.
"Room 84's on fire!" he yelled.
The room, in the center of the first floor of the hotel, had erupted in a sheet of flame. Omholt, sleeping nearby, had been awakened by the smell of smoke.
"'Room 84'son fire!" the manager yelled again.
Omholt dashed to awaken his own children. He banged on the door and shook each of them out of bed. Karen, 10, Julie, 3, and Ralph, 8 - the three Omholt children - had separate rooms opening to the hotel lobby. (Their mother was in Anchorage, where she was under treatment at Providence Hospital for a liver ailment.)
Mrs. Blakely tried to rush into the flames that by then were sweeping the corridor.
"My babies, my babies!" she cried.
The men sleeping in the dormitory were routed. Until the building crumbled around them, they attempted to reach the Blakely children. One ACS man, Pete Ratti, reached the window of the Blakely room but was forced back by the flames.
Efforts were made to salvage valuables in the still-unburned part of the building. Miss Ames and Pete Alexander, the railroad telegrapher, removed most of the equipment and records from the telegraph office.
Mrs. Jeanne Allen saved the mail with a key given her by her postmistress mother, Mrs. Raymond from a key given her by her post-McDonald. The hotel residents, their own possessions lost, then aided the residents of the nine cottages near the hotel to remove their threatened belongings.
- Anchorage Daily Times, Anchorage, Alaska, Wednesday, April 10, 1957 |
