This fire brought back memories

$19 million fire blamed on apprentice plumber
An unsupervised plumbing apprentice using a torch to solder pipe accidentally started the Park Place Condominium fire that caused $19 million in damage, according to an investigative report released Monday.



Back in 1980 when I first came to Alaska I worked as a waitress at the Anchorage Pioneer Home serving dinner. The Pioneer Home sits a couple of blocks away from where they were building the new Park Place Condos. All the seniors got a big kick out of the fire accidently started by an apprentice plumber during construction of the condos. We had a good view of the fire from the 5th floor dining room.


Fast forward a couple of years when I was an apprentice plumber out of Local 367 working for Central Plumbing & Heating. On an early winter Monday morning I was told to go down to an unoccupied cabin on 15th street we had been working on to thaw out the pipes. I thawed out the pipes alright. I accidently burnt the place down! And what the fire didn't burn the firemen axed to make sure the fire was out. From there I was sent downtown to the Catholic church to help replace an old boiler that was set in the basement then the church was built above it. My boss said since I liked to "burn" so much it was the perfect job for me. We had to cut the boiler out in pieces light enough to carry out of that basement. Took 2 weeks.


The owner of the cabin I burnt down wanted to shake my hand. Turned out the property was worth more without the cabin sitting on it. And insurance covered it. Which I'm sure it will in this case, too. But I'm sure that apprentice plumber feels bad.