There was a devastating fire at a beloved northern Door County resort Tuesday afternoon. The fire call came in around 12:30PM for smoke and flames in the basement of the Rowley’s Bay Resort, formerly the Wagon Trail Resort, just south of Newport State Park along the lakeshore. Sister Bay Liberty Grove Fire Chief Chris Hecht describes what his department found upon arrival and their calls for assistance…
The Door County Sheriff’s Department was on scene and they were in charge of making sure all resort guests and staff were accounted for and safe. This let the fire department concentrate on extinguishing the blaze. Fire Chief Hecht says it was fortunate they were right next to Lake Michigan, where they had 3 units pumping straight from Rowleys Bay itself, feeding 2 overhead devices which sprayed the fire from above for over 2 hours with over 200,000 gallons of water. He mentions the assistance from a local construction company and also the firewalls and smoke partitions in the building which helped stop the spread of the fire…
They were able to stop the fire from progressing within 2 hours, and crews continued searching for and extinguishing hot spots into the evening. Most of the crews were able to clear the scene by 10PM, but Sister Bay Fire and the Door County Sheriff’s Department kept the area blocked off as they monitored the scene overnight. Fire Chief Hecht commended county dispatchers on the great job they did handling communications during such a complex situation…
The origin of the fire appeared to be in the basement of the old section of the resort, below “Grandma’s Swedish Bakery,” and the main lobby. The cause of the fire remains undetermined at this time. There were no injuries reported from resort guests, staff, or any of the numerous responders to this major structure fire.
