Union-News (Springfield, MA)
Author: RICHARD NADOLSKI
CUMMINGTON, MA – A blaze possibly started by a lightning bolt leveled the vacant Berkshire Snow Basin lodge early yesterday.
Cummington Fire Chief Bernard Forgea said the wood structure, which was supported by steel girders and encased in large picture windows, was engulfed in flames that were shooting high into the wind-driven rain when he arrived at the scene off Route 9 shortly after 1 a.m.
Forgea said there was little the 50 volunteer firefighters from five surrounding communities could do to save the 5,000-square-foot building.
“It was like trying to put out a fire at a lumber yard standing end on end,” said Forgea, adding it took him only three minutes to get to the scene from his nearby home.
Firefighters from Cummington, Goshen, Plainfield, Worthington and Windsor arrived at the fire and connected lines to the Westfield River several hundred feet away for their water supply.
Forgea said they had to fight the conflagration while lightning lit the sky overhead and hard rain poured down on them. They left the scene at 6:15 a.m., Foregea said.
Forgea characterized the fire as of undetermined origin and declined to speculate on what may have caused it until he finishes his investigation.
He said the alarm was called in to the Amherst Police Department dispatch center by a passer-by and relayed to area volunteer firefighters. He said he is attempting to determine the identity of the person to question him.
Michael Steenburgh, owner of Mike Steenburgh Associates Real Estate, the broker for Heritage Bank, which is attempting to sell the 480-acre property, said he lives almost within sight of the lodge and believes it was caused by lightning. Steenburgh said he lives on a ridge and was watching the lightning storm shortly before 1 a.m.
“We had a massive lightning bolt over in that direction,” he said. About 15 minutes later, Steenburgh said he saw a glow in the sky that he realized was not caused by cars traveling Route 9.
“I said, ‘My God, that’s more than lights, there’s smoke and fire down there,’ ” said Steenburgh, who immediately got into his car and drove to the scene.
“It only took 45 minutes or so for the thing to burn. The rest of the time firefighters just had to make sure it wouldn’t spread,” said Steenburgh.
Ruth Brown, 86, who along with her husband, Stanley, started the ski resort in 1949 and who lives across the river and within sight of the lodge, said neighbors said there was a “terrible crash that shook their homes” shortly before the fire was discovered.
Brown said she had heard that a group from Northampton was doing a feasibility study on the resort with the possibility of purchasing it.
Steenburgh said he is trying to sell the property to a consortium of six investors. He said the group has an option to purchase the bankrupt resort for $595,000. The lodge was insured.
“They had a period of time that they had to essentially review the feasibility of the property,” said Steenburgh.
The lodge consisted of a kitchen and short-order dining facility where skiers would sit at large picnic tables, a ski rental shop, offices, and an area designated for ticket sales.
The resort’s last operating season was 1989-90. Steenburgh said equipment necessary to operate a ski operation such as ski lifts, an equipment maintenance building, a first-aid station and other outbuildings are still intact.
Steenburgh said it is possible a ski resort could rise from its own ashes.
“I’m sure it’s possible the lodge may be resurrected,” he said.