The Bering Sea Bar and Grill is gone after a fire started in the building on the evening of Sept. 17 as Nome was being buffeted by a powerful fall storm.
“Definitely was an active fire. We had three go to the hospital, get treated and released. There were no deaths involved,” Nome Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jim West Jr. said.
TJ Wright, a local Nome resident who witnessed the fire, told KNOM he heard an explosion after some propane tanks burst and the Bering Sea Bar and Grill was, “engulfed in flames, sending embers flying all over town.”
Firefighters demolished the building Saturday evening to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings.
“The bar itself, the restaurant was a total loss. We were able to save the hotel, which is three feet next to it,” West said.
Part of the backside of the adjoining Nome Nugget Inn suffered some damage, but the hotel structure is intact.
West said Sunday morning that there were still some hotspots at the building site, and the department was monitoring them.
