An apparent subsea fiber optic cable break is to blame for a widespread internet outage in Northwest Alaska, according to telecommunications company Quintillion.
Users first reported internet issues early Saturday morning. Quintillion subsequently confirmed the outage via Facebook at 10:02 a.m. In the post Quintillion said, “it appears there was a subsea fiber optic cable break near Oliktok Point, and the outage will be prolonged.”
The approximate site of a line break in the Quintillion Subsea Cable Network. (Map from submarinecablemap.com with KNOM edits)
The apparent cable break is in a similar location to an outage in 2023 that left customers without internet for 14 weeks. Repairs were performed by a specialized vessel during the ice-free summer months.
No timeline was provided for resumed service, although Quintillion said it is “working with our partners and customers on alternative solutions.”
When reached by email, a spokesperson for Quintillion reiterated the message shared on Facebook and was not able to share any further details.
The Quintillion Subsea Cable Network runs from Prudhoe Bay to Nome. Service disruptions are expected at each of the line’s stops along the route, including in Utqiaġvik, Wainwright, Point Hope, and Kotzebue.
Plans to expand the network from Nome to Homer are underway although won’t be operational until 2027. The project seeks to limit internet disruptions due to line breaks by rerouting internet traffic north to Prudhoe Bay or south to Homer, away from the site of the break.
In an update on Sunday, Quintillion President Mac McHale said repairs would not be possible until late summer and the company is exploring alternative options to restore service in the region.
Rescue workers carry children after Tuesday’s flooding in Kotzebue. (From Northwest Arctic Borough Facebook page)
Recovery efforts continued Thursday in Kotzebue, after a storm and severe flooding Tuesday night destroyed buildings and forced 80 residents to evacuate their homes. Emergency responders are trying to assess the damage as winter quickly closes in.
“I think a lot of the debris, what we are seeing, they don’t even know whose it is, whose stuff it is in their yard, because things are floating around,” said Paulette Schuerch, who works with the Native village of Kotzebue. The tribe has been working with the state, borough and city on the emergency and cleanup response.
Officials said the flooding destroyed Kotzebue’s dock, several roads and bridges and dozens of structures at multiple subsistence camps. The force of the storm also transported four large dumpsters to a sandbar in Kotzebue’s lagoon.
City officials said two homes were also destroyed, displacing a family of six and a disabled elder. The family sheltered at Kotzebue’s school Wednesday night, and the elder stayed at the Nullaġvik Hotel. Coordinated efforts are underway between the city, Kotzebue’s tribe and local churches to secure long-term housing, supplies and food for the affected residents.
Schuerch said although 80 people evacuated to shelter on Tuesday, a lot more people may have left their homes to stay with family or friends. Many more residents’ homes were damaged. She said while many homes are still standing, they may have unstable foundations, damaged insulation, or other repairs that could cause serious safety issues as winter quickly approaches.
“All the insulation and floorboards really need to be an immediate resolution, because they’re going to freeze,” she said.
The City of Kotzebue is encouraging residents to document storm damage and to submit it to their planning department. It’s required for individuals to receive disaster assistance.
City officials said portions of Kotzebue’s sewer lagoon were also impacted, but need to further assess the damage.
Ten members of the Alaska National Guard are expected to arrive on Friday.
“The airfield is open right now, recently open, but it wasn’t for a couple of days,” said Alan Brown, a guard spokesperson. “Our ability to get there – logistics takes so much more energy and time, and it’s much more complicated the further out you are.”
Kotzebue’s airport opened Wednesday night for limited flights after being closed for more than 48 hours. Representatives from Maniilaq Health Center said an emergency flight coordinated with Alaska State Troopers and the Red Dog Mine was able to deliver critical medication to Point Hope on Wednesday while most planes were unable to fly.
Airport officials said the runway and weather equipment necessary for airline travel was damaged by the flood. The access road to the airport also experienced significant damage. Brown said those things can make a big difference.
“Something happens in rural Alaska of this degree, logistics becomes a real factor, whether or not, you know, we can get supplies in,” he said. “That takes a lot more time.”
State officials and the Alaska chapter of the Red Cross are set to arrive in Kotzebue within the next few days. Officials said more emergency supplies like bottled water, dehumidifiers, fans and building materials will hopefully come in soon.
Flooding near Kotzebue’s lagoon on Oct. 22, 2024. (Courtesy Micheal Andrew Gudmundson)
The Northwest Arctic community of Kotzebue is starting recovery efforts after a coastal storm caused widespread flooding in the town of over 3,000 people. Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration Tuesday in response, and emergency efforts are continuing as multiple organizations assess the damage.
Residents began evacuating their homes on Tuesday afternoon as rising water levels threatened numerous structures. Over 80 residents evacuated their homes on Tuesday night. Residents were evacuated by the city’s ambulances, with some people riding in the buckets of bulldozers.
The majority of displaced residents stayed in Kotzebue’s high school gym, and others at the hospital, hotel, businesses or with relatives. The borough and a local restaurant, Little Louie’s, provided pizza and breakfast in the morning.
Representatives from a multi-agency emergency response team say at least one home has collapsed into Kotzebue Sound because of the flooding. Officials say multiple homes may also be too damaged to live in, as winter quickly approaches.
Dozens of tents at a seasonal fish camp on Kotzebue’s northside of town have completely washed away and at least one sled dog team has also been displaced. The city says seasonal structures around the Swan Lake dock have also washed away.
Kotzebue schools and numerous businesses remained closed on Wednesday. The town’s airport runways closed on Tuesday due to excessive ice and winds. Flights were scheduled as of noon on Wednesday – although it was unclear if those planes would be able to land. Photos circulating on social media show Alaska Airlines’ terminal flooded.
Emergency officials are encouraging residents to take photos and save receipts in order to document the damages.
Several other communities have also experienced flooding because of the storm, including the coastal communities of Deering and Shishmaref.
What remained of the Polaris Hotel in Nome being demolished and removed by Q Trucking in 2017. (Davis Hovey/KNOM)
An Anchorage woman pleaded guilty last Wednesday to evading taxes on income from her Nome business, which was destroyed in a fatal fire in 2017.
Court documents show that Tina Yi kept two sets of financial records for the Polaris hotel, bar and liquor store from 2014 until it burned down. One set of records accurately captured the business’ earnings, while the other understated its yearly income. Yi gave the false records to the accountants she hired to prepare her business’s taxes, which resulted in false federal tax returns from 2014 to 2018.
A news release from the U.S. Department of Justice said the move allowed her to dodge more than $550,000 in federal taxes.
Yi is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal district court judge on Oct. 11, and the maximum penalty is five years in prison. There is also a potential for supervised release, monetary penalties and restitution, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
She was the sole owner and operator of SJ Investment LLC, which did business as Polaris HBL.
Yi was indicted in 2022, according to reporting from the Nome Nugget, which also reported that she owed more than $23,000 in Nome city property tax at the time.
The criminal investigation group for the IRS conducted the investigation.
The remnants of Stebbins’ school, seen from a Bering Air flight. (Ben Townsend/KNOM)
STEBBINS — Gov. Mike Dunleavy has declared a state disaster in the Norton Sound community of Stebbins, where the local school and several outlying buildings were destroyed in a fire Wednesday.
Alaska State Troopers said no injuries or deaths have been reported from the fire.
On Thursday in Stebbins, the smell of burning rubber filled the air as residents pored over what was left of their only school. The pungent odor wafted out of piles of dirt on the north side of the ruins, where red rubber mulch once laid under the school’s playground. The melted remains of a metal jungle gym protruded from the pile as still-red-hot embers glowed in the background.
The school is a complete loss. Eight nearby buildings were also destroyed in a fire that started around 4 p.m. Wednesday. The fire began in a shop adjacent to the school where an old boiler was kept and then spread to a welding shop next door.
Fire begins to spread from Stebbins School to a nearby housing unit. (Courtesy George Dan)
Stebbins resident George Dan said he received a text from a friend around 5 p.m. Wednesday that simply read “the school is on fire.” Still in his flip-flops, Dan grabbed a thick Carhartt jacket and hopped on his four-wheeler. The Stebbins School graduate didn’t hesitate to join the effort to save the structure.
“I just wanted to be there to help, I’m just trying to do my best and be a part of whatever crew there was,” Dan said. “I literally grew up in that building, I have so many memories and it’s a tragedy that it’s lost. Everybody tried, the whole community, they were all doing the best we can.”
Dan desperately jammed his thumb into the end of a long hose to increase the reach of the low-pressure water line, he lifted his thick jacket to insulate his face from the extreme heat. At times, he doused himself with water so he could stand his ground just a little bit longer.
The blazing-hot temperatures caused the wood siding of the Stebbins School to combust. In a matter of an hour shifting winds spread the fire from the north side to the south side of the building. Residents formed a bucket brigade from the nearby Norton Sound and tossed water on the school.
As the local response unfolded, Nome Volunteer Fire Department firefighters 116 miles north scrambled to fly in help. They sent eight firefighters, hoses, water couplings and a water pump. The first team arrived around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, with a second flight arriving around 9:15 p.m. The crews promptly got to work and installed a water pump in the ocean water.
Warped metal from the school’s boiler room. (Ben Townsend/KNOM)
As the fire continued to grow, local construction company Tapraq Rock used dozers and loaders to push two nearly brand-new portable classroom buildings into the blazing school. Dustin Scalisi, manager of Tapraq Rock, helped the community make what he called a “bold” decision.
“We were like, ‘Well, the school’s done’, now let’s save the portables,” Scalisi explained. “Then we were like ‘The portables are done, now let’s save the rest of everything else,’ so that’s when we took bold action and we started pushing everything in.”
Tapraq’s crew moved massive amounts of dirt to establish a perimeter. In coordination with the Nome firefighters, they successfully prevented any further spread. By 2 a.m. Thursday, the fire — and the school it incinerated — were reduced to a smoky pile of wood beams and sheets of metal.
As the people of Stebbins struggle with the fallout of the fire, leaders in the community met to light the path forward. Over 30 people crammed into the office of Tapraq Rock where its employees, as well as representatives for Stebbins and the Bering Straits School District, listened attentively as City Administrator Daisy Katcheak opened the meeting.
“Right now I’m looking at 102 homes that are disabled with no electricity, no heat. I’m worried about their freezers and children that are dependent on nebulizers and oxygen for the elders,” Katcheak said.
Representatives from regional nonprofit Kawerak and nearby village St. Michael joined the meeting by phone. Katcheak outlined her needs for the community and requested Kawerak’s assistance with fuel deliveries to keep generators running. The nonprofit provided guidance on the joint resolution Stebbins was drafting with the nearby village of St. Michael to request a disaster declaration from Dunleavy.
Part of the school’s roof rests on the ground. (Ben Townsend/KNOM)
The declaration makes the village eligible for reimbursement for a number of recovery projects. In the joint request, Stebbins officials sought funding for improvements to the road connecting Stebbins with St. Michael in case students need to travel there for school.
The school district’s director of maintenance, Gary Eckenweiler, traveled to Stebbins to assess the situation. He issued an estimate for how long it would take for students to return to a new school.
“Stebbins will get a new school built. That’ll be three years, minimum,” Eckenweiler said. “That’s really the only good thing about this whole thing.”
A meeting will be held on Friday between Stebbins officials and district administrators to discuss the path forward. According to Eckenweiler, no option will be left off the table.
“Tomorrow’s meeting we’re going to put any potential idea for how we can get school operating in August out there, and then we’ll start whittling those ideas down to the good ones,” Eckenweiler said.
Stebbins lacks a fire department, which prompted the response by air from Nome. Many in the meeting expressed frustration at the precious hours wasted trying to fight the fire with inadequate resources.
Stebbins City Administrator Daisy Katcheak looks out of a window. (Ben Townsend/KNOM)
Katcheak, the city administrator, said she paced around town through the night supporting her community. She said she didn’t sleep until 8 a.m. Thursday, and after less than two hours of rest she was right back at it.
Katcheak led the community through 2022’s Typhoon Merbok,the destruction of the village’s only grocery store in a fire just two months later, and now Wednesday’s fire. As she reflected on her turbulent tenure, she said she felt assured that her place as leader of this community is where she’s supposed to be.
“I had to go cry away from people,” Katcheak said as she recalled the night of the fire, fighting back tears. “I was asking God for something, and he kept coming to encourage me. And I said, ‘God is this — is this what I’m supposed to be doing?’”
Smoke rises from a Wednesday, June 26, 2024 fire in Stebbins. (Courtesy Pamela Pete via Facebook)
A fire that started Wednesday evening in Stebbins has destroyed the local school and several other nearby buildings.
Stebbins is located on St. Michael Island about 120 miles southeast of Nome.
According to eyewitnesses in Stebbins, the fire started in a shop next to the Tukurngailnguq School at about 7 p.m. Wednesday. The school, shop, two new portable buildings and nearby housing are expected to be total losses.
Bystanders live-streamed the fire on Facebook as regional residents offered up words of support in the comments. The videos revealed a fire that had already engulfed much of the southern side of the school. Streams of water could be seen flowing up from the ground as firefighters attempted to slow the spread.
Witnesses reported the smell of burning rubber in the air as rubber mulch from the school’s playground caught fire.
Heavy equipment was used to dig a perimeter around the school. As of Thursday morning, it appears to have helped contained the fire.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department began deploying to Stebbins at about 8 p.m. Wednesday, with a Bering Air Cessna Grand Caravan carrying one crew member and equipment.
Volunteer firefighters could be seen assembling gear at Nome Airport, waiting to catch the next flight to Stebbins. A King Air departed Nome Airport at 8:47 p.m. with additional equipment and crew.
NVFD Chief Jim West Jr. confirmed to KNOM that six firefighters are being sent to Stebbins. West has received reports that the fire started in a boiler room in a nearby shop building, although that is still to be confirmed. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion coming from the direction of the shop.
The school is located near the town’s water plant and teacher housing. In the late evening 10-mph northern winds shifted and began to flow from the south, creating new challenges for firefighters attempting to contain the blaze.
