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Fire Destroys Historic Coal Creek Camp Mess Hall At Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve

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Published Date

June 28, 2024

The Coal Creek Camp Mess Hall was destroyed by fire this week/NPS file

Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed the historic Coal Creek Camp Mess Hall at Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve in Alaska.

Park staff working Monday at Coal Creek Camp discovered the mess hall engulfed in fire. With a limited water supply available, a nearby Park Service wildland fire crew and both on-scene maintenance and historic preservation staff established a portable water pump and hoses in attempt to extinguish the fire. Due to the immense heat, the effort was unsuccessful and the adjacent Coal Creek Camp Shower House, sluice box, and Bobcat skid-steer were also consumed in the fire.

Crews worked for several hours, ensuring the fire did not spread to other adjacent structures or vegetation and successfully prevented the fire from spreading into the wildland environment.

The Coal Creek Mess Hall, a structure on the National Register of Historic Places, was originally constructed in the late 1930s and moved to its current location in 1951. It was deeply rooted in the mining history of the Coal Creek drainage, sheltering decades of miners, and in more recent decades, hundreds of National Park Service and interagency staff in its role as a hub for field-based operation, all while continuing its living history.

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