Unalaska, AK – Wednesday's fire at Peking Restaurant is still under investigation. The Fire Marshal flew in from Anchorage that afternoon and is inspecting the building to determine the cause of the fire and the cost and extent of the damage. When he is finished, the buildings tenants will be allowed back in to start clean up efforts.

The fire was reported to Public Safety at 4:35 am on Wednesday when a person called to say he saw flames coming from the restaurant. On-duty police officers reported to the scene, woke the four residents who live in the apartment above the restaurant, and safely evacuated them from the building. When fire fighters arrived on the scene a few minutes later they evaluated the situation and called for more help. Fire Chief Brian Long said fighting fires in a building like that is more difficult than in other places.

"Right off the bat the hackles go up when you hear a commercial structure of this type" is on fire, he said. "It was built in the 1940s, in the WWII era, so it's got some stronger structural elements but because of the code deficiencies, or lack there of, back when they were putting stuff up for the military, and the fact that occupancy has changed hands repeatedly, means there's numerous modifications to the building and it's very difficult to chase fires in."

Fire fighters entered the smoke-filled building and used a thermal imaging camera to find the flames. The camera shows different shades of grey to indicate heat.

"Having the thermal imaging camera changed our game plan greatly," Long said. "They got in, couldn't see anything, heat drove them to the floor. They were moving into the restaurant, it was hot, smoky, they couldn't see. They got thermal imagery in there and immediately saw where the flames were at, were able to move and position themselves where they were safe and near an exit, keep themselves in a cooler environment, they were staying on their knees, and yet they were able to hit all the hot spots.

It took the fire fighters two hours of hard labor to extinguish the fire. When "we reduced it from open burning flame to a smoldering fire, it's still combusting. It's still traveling on us; it's just doing it slower. So we've got to keep it wet and knocked down while we're pulling debris, cutting the roof open, pulling everything apart so that we can get water on the seed of the fire and truly extinguish that smoldering fire."

The team had to remove parts of the roof and cut holes into the walls to access the wood structures underneath. Long said Peking has extensive smoke, fire, and water damage. Neighboring units have some smoke damage, but it's less extreme. Twenty people, including many volunteers, reported to the scene and worked on the area into the afternoon.

"We don't like having fires, but this was a success story. By all rights, there was a teetering moment there where we weren't sure which way this fire was going to go. And if it goes bad then we have to go defensive and it burns to the ground. And the fire fighters with their continuous, aggressive interior tactic, they saved the structure. They did great."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. No one was injured.

Peking Restaurant has been in the building for more than 15 years and was purchased less than a month ago by Sun Son DeFantiago. The building is owned and leased out by the Ounalashka Corporation.