ALASKAN CITY BURNED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22422, 17 November 1934, Page 11

ALASKAN CITY BURNED

RUSH OF RELIEF SUPPLIES Confronted by the rapidly approaching winter and the prospect of being icebound, Nome, Alaska, was lately in a serious condition following a fire which razed most of the city to the ground, rendering a large portion of the population homeless. and destroyed most of the city’s food supplies. Starting in the Golden Gate Hotel, the windswept flames quickly transformed the wooden city into a roaring furnace, which, even with all the men, women, and children aiding, the firemen were unable to check. Many structures were dynamited in the effort to stem,the fire. Before it was extinguished the fire had done damage to the extent of 2,000,000 dollars (about £400,000), destroyed the Federal buildings, the bank, every grocer’s shop, the restaurants, and all the hotels except one. Two Eskimos trapped in the fire were burned to death, and a number of both whites and Eskimos were badly burned. The one hotel, the few waterfront warehouses, hospital, and handful of residences which escaped the flames are crowded with refugees. Relief agencies immediately started rushing supplies on the appeal of Dr Rex M, Schwartz, the Mayor, who is also a medical man. He pointed out that the temperature was already at freezing point and that the roadstead would bp tree of ice for only six weeks at the longest. “We must have help from outside speedily,” he said. The Coastguard immediately despatched its cutters with food and medicine. An aeroplane was made ready to fly with food from Fairbanks, and timber to rebuild was to be despatched as quickly as possible from southern points.