A fire in the coastal community of Tununak burned down its washeteria. Tribal officials say the fire happened the evening of Feb. 15. Gov. Mike Dunleavy posted on Facebook that the fire occurred on Feb. 16. In that post, the governor announced that he declared a state disaster emergency the day after, on Feb. 17, after Tununak’s tribe declared a local disaster and requested help.
Tununak does not have running water. Dunleavy wrote on his Facebook post that the community’s washeteria was not used for drinking water, but that it provided water to the village health clinic and gave the community a place to do laundry. Tununak's school is the community's source of drinking water, which was unaffected by the fire. Dunleavy said that the state was focused on establishing temporary laundry and shower services, and helping the community clean up the debris from the fire.
Dunleavy’s response to the Tununak fire was markedly faster than his response when another Y-K Delta community’s water treatment plant burned down a year ago in Tuluksak. In that case, even though Tuluksak’s water treatment plant was the community’s only source of drinking water, Dunleavy declared a disaster three-and-a-half weeks after the fire. That delay was widely criticized. This time, the disaster declaration took only two days.