Fire Destroys Lodge

     I happened to be awake when I heard the page over the emergency radio.  Rugby had summoned me to let him outside around 4am last Wednesday morning so with work to do and the alarm going off in 90 minutes I just stayed up. 

     I knew the page wasn’t for Gunflint Trail responders so I didn’t go downstairs to listen.  My first thought was someone was having a heart attack; it’s always my first thought when there’s a page in the morning.  After my mom died of hers I did some reading and found that most heart attacks occur in the early morning when the platelets are stickier.  Something was telling me to go and listen to the page, but I didn’t.

     I sure wish I would have because then I would have known Trout Lake Lodge was burning.  Not that I could have done anything to save it but maybe I could have helped in some way.  Nancy Waver owns Trout Lake Resort and has been on the Gunflint Trail a long time.  She’s had a tough year with the loss of both her mom and her husband and now her lodge is gone too.  I can’t imagine how she must feel.  My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family who are suffering another loss.

From the News Herald…

A page went out at 4:47 a.m. on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, calling the Colville and Maple Hill Fire Departments to Trout Lake Resort for a fire. Maple Hill Community Fire Department was first on the scene and found the building fully engulfed. A pump was submerged in Trout Lake and a good water supply was available, however the building was a total loss. Firefighters successfully protected an adjacent laundry building and other resort structures.

Guy Waver was living in the lodge and was awakened by smoke. He called 911 and fought the blaze with first a fire extinguisher and then garden hoses while waiting for the fire departments. Both he and his dog, Buddy, escaped injury.