This is an ongoing story and will be updated when new information is available.
Tuesday, November 15, 11:45am
After a water treatment plant fire in Emmonak, residents are still awaiting the arrival of needed replacement parts to fix one of two vacuum pumps. Mayor Wilbur Hootch will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday night to approve the budget for needed repairs.
Current sewage needs are being met by honey buckets.
While water is still running, Hootch says only three of the remaining nine feet in the community water storage tank is usable. He says a failure to fill the tank could be costly.
Hootch says the cause of the fire is a suspected pump overload. The fire damaged the main vacuum pump but did not cause any fatalities.
Monday, November 14, 3:41pm
Emmonak Fire Damages Sewer and Water Systems
A fire in Emmonak has damaged the local water treatment plant.
Emmonak’s mayor Wilbur Hootch says the vacuum pump system and the electrical components connected to it have burnt out. The fire did not cause any fatalities.
Technicians are working to keep community pipes from freezing. To do that, a main storage water tank must be filled. Hootch says a failure to fill that tank could be costly. “If we don’t have enough water level in our 100,000 [gallon] plus storage tank, once our low and high pressure freeze up, we’ll have a major disaster for the whole community of Emmonak.”
City engineers are ordering the replacement parts. If the parts are not available, the system may freeze. If the pipes do freeze, it is unknown how long the town could go without sewer and water. Currently, Emmonak residents are advised to reserve their usage of water and to avoid using flush toilets, since this may cause the sewer to back up into their homes.
Within the next 48 hours, the total estimated damage could exceed one million dollars.
