FAYETTE – A state fire investigator said Thursday that the cause of a fire that destroyed two cabins at Echo Lodge Camp off Route 17 has not been determined.
Firefighters were hampered by bitter 20-degree below zero weather. Furthermore, a vehicle was parked in the yard of one camp and firefighters didn’t know if a family was still inside.
For 90 minutes, firefighters didn’t know if a couple and a baby were inside one camp, he said.
It turned out that the family had left the camp the night before after experiencing heating problems, said Fayette Fire Chief Ron McLallen said.
The two camps, about 30-by-40 feet, burned to the ground at about 4 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, on Echo Lodge Road. James McClay of Smithfield owns the camps. The main lodge at the camp wasn’t damaged, McLallen said.
A carpenter, Mike Ladner, 32, of Gardiner, was sleeping in one of the camps. When he woke at about 4 a.m., he saw flames burning a wall and melting the curtains of his cabin.
The other camp, about 12 feet away, was fully engulfed in flames at the time, the fire chief said.
The carpenter didn’t know if the family in the first cabin was still inside, the chief said.
In between the two camps were two propane tanks and a 275-gallon fuel tank, he said.
When Fayette Assistant Chief Marty Maxwell pulled up, one of the propane tanks exploded, McLallen said.
Firefighters from Lakes Region Mutual Aid Group dealt with frozen equipment, a narrow road and frostbite, he said.
State fire investigator Tim York said there wasn’t enough left at the scene to make an educated and scientific guess on what caused the fire.
“It is undetermined,” he said.
It was the second fire in two weeks that the cause was ruled undetermined due to extensive damage. On Jan. 12, Kathy and Joe Brennick’s home on Old Jay Hill Road was gutted by fire. The blaze started in the back of the Brennicks’ house, in the living room, but the cause is unknown, Jay Chief Brian Shink said.
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