The headquarters for the Sebago Lake State Park in Casco, Maine, was destroyed by fire Wednesday morning.
Charred maps and educational guides lay in soggy clumps, no longer fuel for the massive fire that tore through the structure just before dawn.
What made this building attractive to campers- its remote location on the lake in the woods -made it challenging to spot and for firefighters to knock it down.
"It took us a while to get water in here," said Andy Burnham, Naples Dep. Fire Chief. "We had to call in seven towns to give us a hand with it."
The headquarters, which served as the regional hub for other state parks in southern Maine, was built in the late 1950's.
"It was hard to see it in flames," said Matt McGuire, Park Manager.
He says they were able to salvage computers and a file cabinet, but some historical documents were lost in the fire. The State Fire Marshal's office spent the morning at the scene trying to figure out how and where the fire started.
" We have a couple of investigators doing interviews with people who worked here yesterday to see if anything might have been left on," said Sgt. Joel Davis.
Davis says it appears the fire started in a maintenance area in the back corner of the building.
The park has 250 campsites and every year, about 90,000 campers spend part of their summer here. McGuire says the fire should not have any impact on people's summer plans.
"We've got reservations starting for group use in February and we'll be ready to go when people start calling looking forward to next season," said McGuire.
They plan to work out of a maintenance building for the time being. But with or without a headquarters, he says the staff will still be there ready to help vacationers enjoy all this state park has to offer.
