On March 9th, 1911, fire broke out in the cook’s quarters in the upstairs of the Douglas Grill.

As luck would have it, the community was plagued by high winds that day. The fire quickly spread to the theater and two hotels. The fire then jumped across the street and caught additional buildings afire.

The Douglas Fire Department responded to the blaze in downtown Douglas but soon found they were hampered by frozen fireplugs.

800 miners from the Treadwell mines to the south responded to the community to help fight the huge fire. Firefighting equipment in Juneau across the channel, was loaded aboard the ferry, but the high winds ha whipped the sea into a froth and initially slowed that response.

While the fire was successfully extinguished and confined to the downtown portion of the community, 16 buildings were taken in the blaze. 

  Alaska, douglas, downtown, fire, history