More Park Place Fire Pictures
Tuesday’s Park Place Condo fire was huge. As the Daily News wrote, The fire of the decade, maybe of their career, the firefighters are saying.
Fortunately, no one was injured and all but two of the pets were rescued. From the same Daily News article:
Maybe the best news: two missing cats, Chester, at least age 20, and younger guy Chocolate, were found alive by firefighters, division chief Bridget Bushue said. Another resident, Chrystalle Vantyler, saved her rabbit, Adrian Monk. But two other cats, Cleo and Sadie, died in the fire, Bushue said.
Loretta Reiter, a fire crew engineer, spotted an ailing Chester on the third floor as the blaze roared. She put the kitty in a crate and set him on the balcony. He has kidney disease and was wet, cold and fading fast when he was reunited just before 10 p.m. Tuesday with owner Carla Hostetter, said Jenine Brown, a friend of Carla’s and manager of the West Anchorage Veterinary Clinic, where both cats were recovering Wednesday.
Carla’s mother, Barbara, lived above her on the fourth floor with Chocolate the cat.
“We ran Chester to Pet Emergency,” Brown said. Then “we had to go back out and look for Chocolate. Everybody said ‘Ladies, we don’t see any way that Chocolate could have lived. The place is just charred. There is nothing there.’ ”
Not even a roof. The top floor units opened to the sky when the ceiling crashed down.
It was nearly midnight when firefighter Mike Melchert found a wet, sooty and screaming Chocolate hunkered down on a shelf in the pantry.
“The whole fire crew were the most helpful, kindest people on the planet,” Brown said.
That evening, I had drinks at the Crows Nest. The smoke levels downtown were very thick - just like forest fire season. Even inside the Crows Nest, the smoke was very noticeable - we could smell it and taste it. My route home took me right by the condos and four hours after the fire started, the scene was still amazing. Tons of fire engines and ladder trucks and hoses in full operation. Two days later, the cleanup still continues.
The view from the Crows Nest. Park Place condos are completely obscured by the smoke.
The view from Henry 2 on my way home.
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