Fire Guts Hotel at Denali Park

A week and a half after a fire ravaged the popular Denali Princess Lodge, just outside Alaska’s Denali National Park, hotel officials say they will rebuild and insist that the facility will open for the season on May 14, as planned.

By press time Wednesday, the rubble had been removed, new furnishings ordered and construction started.

The blaze, which may have started when a furnace was turned on, destroyed 170 of the hotel’s 280 rooms, plus the lobby, dining room and gift shop. Only two wings of the 9-year-old lodge, a fast-food restaurant, employee housing and a maintenance building survived.

The lodge is one of seven accommodations clustered along a mile-long stretch of highway leading to the park entrance. Owned by Princess Cruises, the hotel is popular with independent travelers and those on cruises, who overnight there. More than 60,000 cruisers are expected to stay at the lodge this summer, a spokesman said.

Princess says those vacation plans are not in jeopardy. “We’ve got [additional rooms] blocked” if needed, said Tom Dow, company vice president. “We’re committing the resources necessary to have the place back in business by start of the season.” Five employees were on the grounds, but no one was in the hotel when the fire erupted just before 7 a.m. March 20. No one was injured.