The shack next to the City of Nome’s ice skating rink will be partly demolished after an electrical fire flared up inside the structure on Wednesday night. Nome City Manager Josie Bahnke said efforts to rebuild will begin as early as this weekend.
The small blaze started around 9 p.m. on the eastern side of the building, located at 3rd Avenue and Steadman Street. Volunteer firefighters cut into the roof with an axe and chainsaw to locate the source and douse the fire with water.
Bahnke said that killed the flames, but caused significant damage to the older, northern section of the building.
“The water has caused an extensive amount of damage between the roof and the ceiling,” she said. “And basically, the older portion is about 40 years old. So its structural integrity is pretty much ruined.”
The newer half of the building — on the southern side — remains intact. But after assessing the overall damage, Bahnke said the city decided to replace the older portion rather than repair it.
“Early preliminary costs were around $10,000 to fix it,” she said. “We’ve determined it’s not worth it trying to fix the old one. It’d probably just be time consuming and maybe even more expensive.”
Bahnke said the cost to rebuild is estimated at $12,000.
“We’ve got a preliminary plan in place to have a combination of volunteers from the Nome Hockey Association to construct the new building — whether that’s with materials donated, repurposed, or purchased using city funds,” she said.
The city is waiting on a materials estimate from a local lumber supplier before construction starts. In the meantime, Bahnke said efforts are underway to locate excess materials, conduct the demolition, and round up a road crew to haul away the old building.
No one was injured in the fire, but Bahnke said the hockey gear inside the shack incurred some smoke damage.
