The Wadena County Sheriff’s Office received multiple 911 calls around 3:55 p.m. from passersby reporting the fire. The golf club and restaurant is located eight miles south of Park Rapids or three miles north of Menahga.
Menahga Fire Chief Dave Kicker estimates it took 300,000 gallons of water to quash the fire.
According to the sheriff’s news release, when law enforcement arrived, flames were already visible from the building. The Menahga Fire Department requested mutual aid from the Sebeka, Park Rapids and Wolf Lake fire departments.
Due to the intensity of the fire, Kicker requested additional assistance from the Wadena, Verndale, Staples, Akeley, Nevis, Bluffton and Carsonville fire departments as well. All told, Kicker said there were about 100 firefighters.
Shuttling water from Spirit Lake and the City of Menahga was a challenge. “We had to haul everything in,” Kicker said. “We had 15 tenders hauling water at one time.”
There were two fire pumper trucks. Firefighters were on the scene for eight and a half hours. The fire rekindled late Wednesday night, Kicker said, but was fully extinguished around 12:30 a.m.
Gawkers were also problematic. The fire was actively burning at 7:30 p.m. and onlookers didn’t leave until around 8 p.m., Kicker said.
“That’s our biggest problem on any call,” he said. “It gets hard. We’re trying to do our job, and you’ve got 50 cars parked out on the road. You’ve got to zig-zag, with trucks coming from both directions, and it gets to be a safety issue.”
The building is a complete loss.
Foul play is not suspected, according to the sheriff’s office. The news release said, around 2:45 p.m., an employee filled an enclosed fireplace, which was located in the basement, with wood. Propane was the building’s main heating source and the wood stove provided supplemental heating.
The main fire was at the back of the building, near the kitchen, Kicker said.
A state fire marshal arrived Thursday morning to investigate the origin and cause of the fire.
The 18-hole golf course was untouched by the fire, but all of the equipment was lost. Employees say 60 golf carts were stored in the basement of the lodge.
An avid golfer, Gary Eidem regularly played the course when it first opened, then began working at Blueberry Pines.
“Damn near brought me to tears,” he said of the sight Thursday morning.
“It attracted a lot of golfers,” he added.
Building superintendent Jeff Yungbauer said the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was arriving Thursday morning to inspect damage caused by battery acid leaking from melted golf carts.
“That all boiled right up through the sewer system and all the way down on County 16,” he said. “They’re going to test it and see how bad it is.”
Yungbauer helped build the lodge, which was constructed in 1991 and opened for business in 1993.
“Twenty-seven years ago, I helped put that up in the winter,” he said.
There were no injuries. No employees were in the building at the time of the fire, and no firefighters were hurt.
“I didn’t have anybody trip or fall, with all that ice,” Kicker said, crediting the Minnesota Department of Transportation for salting Hwy. 71 and the parking lot three times.
Also assisting on scene was the Minnesota State Patrol, Menahga Police Department, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Wadena County Highway Department, Tri-County Ambulance, North Memorial Ambulance and the Menahga First Responders.
Hot Stuff provided pizza and The Cottage House cooked burgers for the firefighters. “They made probably 200 burgers,” Kicker said.
It’s was all hands on deck for the Park Rapids Fire Department, with 25 out of 26 firefighters helping at Wednesday’s fire. It’s typical for 16 to 20 to answer the call, according to newly nominated Park Rapids Fire Chief Terry Long.
“I would say that it’s one of the larger fires that we’ve tackled for a while. It was a major structure, there,” Long said.
Assistant Fire Chief Ben Cumber agreed, saying, “It was probably the most gallons of water that we’ve used as a group, that I remember. I think we used over 300,000 gallons.”
In the nighttime, Cumber noted that they can roll a truck out of the fire hall in five minutes.
During the day, “it averages about four minutes and we’re rolling a truck, which is phenomenal for a volunteer department,” Long said.
Kicker said, “It’s probably one of the biggest fires that I’ve been on. It’s the most hose we’ve pulled off the truck for a fire.” He noted that it was also the first time they needed a fuel truck to refuel the pumpers in order to keep pumping water.
Kicker advises property owners to clear snow away from hydrants. It helps a lot, he said.
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