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Show Siiveir Lake Lodge damaged by Hwe by Teri (Ionics Hunks of twisted copper metal and charred rough-hewn timbers are all that remain of the east side of the roof at Deer Valley's Silver Lake Lodge, apparently the target of an arsonist last Monday evening. Arson investigator Lynn Borg of the state fire marshall's office said Wednesday, Wed-nesday, "There is no doubt thq fire started outside. It was man caused. We can find nothing at this time to indicate otherwise." At 11:22 p.m. Monday the Coalville dispatcher answered a call from Deer Valley resident Janet Orr, who lives in the Little Bell condominium project a few hundred yards from the lodge in upper Deer Valley. "I smelled smoke and I went outside with my dog to investigate," said Orr. "I saw smoke and flames coming from the southeast corner of the building and I ran back in to call it in." Varying reports cited confusion at the scene of the fire. But Park City Fire Chief Jim Berry maintains there was none. "I was on the scene in 18 minutes and when I got there two trucks were already putting water on the blaze." Chief Berry received the alarm at his Silver Springs home. "We changed which truck hooked up to which hydrant after one of our brand-new hoses burst," added Berry. For 36 hours until the blaze was extinguished at 3 a.m. Wednesday more than 50 firefighters from the Salt Lake, Coalville, Kamas and Park City fire departments battled the elusive fire. The lodge's unusual multi-layered roof design, adopted for its energy-saving energy-saving ability and the prevention of winter ice dams, was blamed by firefighters for the difficulty in controlling con-trolling the fire. According to John Miiller, general i manager of Deer Valley Resort which owns and operates the lodge, the roof had seven to eight layers and contained con-tained a petroleum in the roofing material. Apparently the layers trapped trap-ped the fire in different pockets of the roof where it kept reigniting. The lodge has been closed since April 22, when the ski season ended at Deer Valley, and was scheduled to reopen June 5 for summer business. An exhausted Bill Nassikas, food and beverage director at Deer Valley, was on the scene most of Monday night and early Tuesday morning. He told the Record, "This is a $14 million structure struc-ture and one-third of it is gone. I can't even begin to estimate the damage." While the damage to the roof is extensive, ex-tensive, there is limited smoke damage and minimal structural damage to the inside of the building. A 16th-century blond wood hutch in the Cafe Mariposa suffered only the loss of a cornice which was knocked off in firefighting efforts. Chief Berry was pleased firefighters were able to keep the west side of the building basically intact. Miller had words of praise for local firefighters. "Everybody did everything every-thing they could. It was a real treak situation and a real tough one. But the police responded immediately, the fire department responded immediately im-mediately and the ambulance people did too. We're very fortunate that it happened when it did, after the season when no one was in there. It could have been at a worse time with worse conditions." con-ditions." While Park City detectives and state arson investigators won't release any details, they are working on a number of leads in the case. "Because of some unusual circumstances circum-stances we thought we had a good suspect," said arson investigator Borg, "but the suspect had an airtight alibi." The building apparently was unattended unat-tended at the time the blaze broke out. Lowell Lander, the Deer Valley security guard on patrol in the area, was on duty at a convention at the Snow Park Lodge in lower Deer Valley when the fire started. Deer Valley's summer security patrol schedule requires only one guard on duty each shift. Miiller said the corporation will begin to rebuild "right away." Expansion had already been planned for the building this summer. "We plan to reopen by this ski season, hopefully by Christmas." Preparation also will begin this summer for the Deer Valley Inn to be built in the Silver Lake area. According to Berry the fire department depart-ment has asked that a fire station be built into the new hotel structure. And Deer Valley has agreed to purchase a pumperladder truck for the station. Deer Valley officials would like to see the station manned 24 hours a day. "That's something we're still working on," admitted Berry. "Right now the Park City station is only man- : ned 10 hours a day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. That's when 79 percent of all calls ! come in. We'll have to look at our ' budget to see about the possibility of manning the station round the clock." The Silver Lake Lodge, which opened Dec. 26, 1981, was constructed at a cost of $7 million. The lodge was designed by the San Francisco firm of Esherick, Homsey, Dodge and Davis. In 1983 the building received an award from the American Wood Council for distinctive design of a non-residential wood structure. George Homsey, architect for the firm, refused to comment on the roof's design when contacted by the Record Wednesday morning. e ' r f3 .. .. .. 3 Aerial view shows roof damage Tuesday morning. |