Saturday marked 40 years since a fire at the BI-LO supermarket in Muldoon claimed the life of a 23-year-old firefighter. The Anchorage Fire Department hosted a ceremony at the Alaska Fallen Firefighter Memorial in observance of the fire and the lost firefighter, Charles "Chuck" Whitethorn.
Bob Woolsey, a retired firefighter who responded to the blaze, said he remembers getting the call eight minutes after midnight, shortly after his crew had returned from working at another callout on Feb. 6, 1976. It was the last fire Whitethorn would fight.
"For all of us, I think I can tell you we can be there in a minute. It's in our mind you know, and we talk about it as a crew and we're still there," Woolsey said.
Whitethorn moved to Anchorage in 1972 and worked for the Greater Anchorage Area Borough Fire Department after he was discharged from his firefighting position with the Elmendorf Air Force Base Fire Department, according to AFD.
At the time, two organizations of firefighters were learning how to operate as one group, according to retired fire chief Craig Goodrich.
"The fire department as a global entity was learning how to operate under a new piece of equipment and that's called unification," Goodrich said. "We had policies procedures and instructions in two different organizations and we were trying to meld those."
Whitethorn was among those working with Engine 6, the first unit to respond to the the supermarket. His fellow firefighters say he never made it out.
"It was a very aggressive fire and a large structure and you're talking about young men on that," Woolsey said.
Three firefighters were inside the building including Woolsey and Whitethorn.
"It blew up on us, it flashed over," Woolsey said.