WELD – A fire destroyed a bunkhouse at the Camp Kawanhee for Boys yesterday morning, with state officials still investigating the cause.
The fire took place Monday just after 8 a.m., destroying a one-room building.
“Luckily we had some rain the night before. It had wet the ground enough so that helped,” Weld Fire Department Chief Corey Hutchinson said.
If it had not rained, and if the camp’s fire brigade had not acted quickly, the fire could have easily spread into the surrounding woods, Hutchinson said. The brigade – a trained group of staff members – utilized the camp’s small pump to bring water up from the lake for the fire before the town’s department arrived.
The cabin was fully engulfed when he arrived on scene, Hutchinson said.
The all-boys camp, at 58 Kawanhee Lane, is located on Webb Lake down a one-lane dirt road. Though trucks were able to get to the fire fairly easily, many from the responding town departments had to park roughly a mile away on the main road.
All of the campers were at breakfast at the time of the fire. Nobody was injured, although some personal belongings were lost.
It took roughly three hours to extinguish the fire, according to Hutchinson.
The Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the blaze in an attempt to determine a cause.
