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Keno City Hotel Burns Down

Saturday, 12 December 2020 15:50

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The iconic Keno City Hotel, a local landmark and gathering place in the small community of Keno City, Yukon, was destroyed overnight in a fire, local sources confirm.

The former Gold Rush town is located about 335 kilometres north of Whitehorse. The community has just a few dozen residents and no fire department of its own, and no pumped water source.

The closest community with a volunteer fire-department is in Mayo, about 1 hour drive away and that fire department prepared their truck as soon as possible.

Within 15 minutes, the truck and fire crew were on their way to Keno City, according to Trevor Ellis, the Mayo Fire Chief.

Due to the lack of pumped water, the Alexco Resource Corp., which is operating mines in Keno Hill Silver District, dispatched water trucks to assist with the efforts of the Mayo fire department to get the fire under control.

The RCMP and Fire Marshall are now investigating the cause of the fire and no injuries were reported. The hotel was unoccupied at the time. 

"It's devastating for the entire area," said Ellis, the fire chief. "It's really, really sad."

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