Update: On Friday, staff at Safe Harbor Inn assessed the damage done by a Thursday night fire. One room was damaged and the woman who lived there was able to move to a vacant room down the hall. But Safe Harbor Inn staff say the fire damage will likely affect more families because with one unit out of the mix, that will prevent families on the long waitlist from being able to move in.
"Hopefully we'll be able to repair the rooms in short order but that would be probably a month to two. So we're going to have a backlog on our waitlist and that's one to two families that didn't have the opportunity to come in and move into an apartment," said executive director Matt Kropke.
Safe Harbor Inn provides transitional housing for homeless families before they find permanent housing.
Original Story: Anchorage firefighters responded to a fire at a Muldoon facility providing housing for homeless families Thursday night, which affected one of its 50 rooms but sent two people to the hospital. They received treatment for smoke inhalation.
AFD dispatchers said crews responded to the blaze, at the Safe Harbor Inn at 207 Muldoon Rd., shortly before 8 p.m.
Along with another Safe Harbor facility at Merrill Field, the building is owned and operated by non-profit corporation Anchor Arms, Inc. Its website says that its mission is “to provide safe, secure, comfortable, dignified transitional lodging for homeless families and individuals.”
Firefighters at the scene said the fire started in a room housing a three-person family, and two people were subsequently taken to local hospitals. The entire facility was also evacuated.
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