Sitka firefighters responded to two fires on Tuesday (8-12-25).
In an interview with KCAW, Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said shortly after 1 p.m. the U.S. Coast Guard reached out for assistance in putting out a fire on a 26 foot whaler in the Neva Strait, just north of Sitka. The boat was burning for several minutes prior to the call. Two boat operators and four firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after 2pm.
“By the time we got up there, the boat was pretty much completely burnt,” said Warren.
The boat’s owner was initially towing the whaler with a 40 ft cabin cruiser. Once he noticed that his towed boat was ablaze, he untethered it and called the Coast Guard. Chief Warren says that the cause of the fire is unknown.
“When they burn that hot and that long, there’s not much left for the investigators to figure out what happened,” said Warren.
The fire was put out less than an hour after the fire department arrived at the scene. The boat’s remains were towed to a cove north of Whitestone, where the owner will soon retrieve it through the assistance of a salvage company. No injuries were reported.
Later the same day, back on dry land, the fire department responded to the aftermath of a dryer fire in a Sitka home around 6:30pm. The caller had already put out the fire by the time they called the fire department, but they wanted officials to inspect their home to ensure everything was safe.
“We ended up pulling the dryer hose apart and found burnt lynt, and even had some residual small burning lynt,” said Warren. “It is a reminder for people to check their dryer vent and hoses.”
No injuries were reported.
