By Jane Smith
02/05/08 — CONNEAUT LAKE PARK — Even though “arson” is the word most often heard on the street, Friday’s fire at Conneaut Lake Park was so large, so hot and so destructive that even a point of origin for the blaze is impossible to detect. So, after a detailed investigation — and conceding that indeed it might have been the work of an arsonist — officials had to settle for “undetermined” as the cause on Monday morning.
A Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal, along with Peter Albaugh, assistant chief of Summit Township Volunteer Fire Department who also serves as a local fire marshal, sifted through the ashes and debris of Dreamland Ballroom, attempting to determine what caused the catastrophic fire that claimed the historic building and a number of midway stands at the 116-year-old amusement park.
“The ruling is undetermined (cause),” said the state police fire marshal. “I can’t rule out accidental and I can’t rule out arson, but I can’t rule it (in) either,” he said. “It’s a big structure and the fire was well advanced before it was discovered.”
Albaugh said although many people have told him “we think this is arson,” he said no evidence was found to make that ruling. He asks anyone with information or evidence suggesting arson as the cause to provide it; “we will share it with the state and pursue it.”
The fire was discovered about 2 a.m. Friday by two members of Conneaut Lake Area Ambulance Service, who were on their way home from a medical call in Conneautville, said Albaugh.
A smoky scene
Albaugh, whose Summit company was first on the scene, said the “smoke was so thick on (Route) 618, it was like fog. The wind was coming from the southeast and blowing all the smoke right up Reed Avenue. (The ambulance crew) came into the park to determine what was producing all the smoke and saw the flames. They could not see them from the (main) road.”
“When the first engine arrived, the smoke was so thick they (firefighters) could barely see the end of the road,” said Albaugh describing the conditions the morning of the fire. As soon as firefighters got around the north side of the building, the smoke “was all cleared up” (on that side).”
Pointing to the remains of the building, he explained that the wind was the main reason one side of the buildings suffered more damage than the other.
Noting the large open space inside the ballroom, Albaugh said gases and smoke collected in the rafters for some time. Firefighters were using thermal imaging equipment inside the building when temperatures reached “1,500-plus degrees,” and “less than minutes later the building started to collapse,” said Albaugh.
The result of all this is that investigators “don’t have a point of origin (of the fire),” he said, noting they have “to rely on eyewitnesses.”
A potential problem
“It’s pretty upsetting,” Albaugh said of the fire. “We have been watching it (the building) for a number of years,” he said of its potential to burn, noting that 15 years ago there was a fire in a small restaurant behind the ballroom. “The building was so old,” he said. It was built in 1909 and a lot of wiring and plumbing was added over the years to complicate the structure even further.
Investigators said there was a single electrical wire running from a garage, which supplied electricity for a telephone system in the maintenance building under Dreamland Ballroom. “It was only a 110 (volt line),” said Albaugh of that line’s low power. The fire marshal said there were no indications of problems with that, after inspecting the electric meter in the garage area where the line originated.
In the meantime, a yellow “fire scene” tape still surrounds the structure as a warning for spectators not to cross. However, the fire marshal released the structure to the park officials on Monday, noting that part of his investigation is complete and he doesn’t need to preserve the scene any more.
George Deshner, manager of the park, said the board of Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park now will decide the next step. The board was to meet Monday afternoon.
He said many of the regular volunteers were at the park over the weekend, offering their help to clean up, but Deshner and Jerry Smith, a furloughed CLP maintenance employee, agreed that the removal work is going to require more expertise than volunteers have.
Park employees volunteered Monday afternoon to help remove some of the dangling pieces of the burned roof and verandah as a safety precaution, said Deshner.
Costly cleanup
In the meantime, the next step for the board is coming up with money to remove the remainder of the debris. Deshner said early estimates are that process could run as high as $100,000. One reason for that is the need for heavy construction equipment to dismantle the steel.
Deshner said the board will have to decide what — if anything — is able to be salvaged and sold.
Also lost in the fire were personal tools of at least three furloughed maintenance employees, Smith, Don Schanz and David Hoogstad. Smith estimated his loss at between $6,000 and $7,000 and said he expects Hoogstad’s would be about the same. “Don’s would probably be double that,” said Smith, noting Schanz’s collection was much larger than the others. George Glancy, another CLP maintenance employee, said he didn’t lose any tools, as he took his home when he was furloughed. Smith said Schanz believes his losses will be covered by his homeowner’s insurance and said his and others may be as well.
The trustees had no fire insurance on any of the buildings.
