OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK – The Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge in Olympic National Park was destroyed in a fire Sunday afternoon and is said to be a total loss. The origin of the fire is unknown.
A law enforcement ranger on patrol reported the fire at about 4:30 p.m. The Day Lodge had been undergoing renovation and was closed to visitors, but acting Public Information Officer Lee Snook says no one was working in the building on Sunday.
Built in the 1950s, the Day Lodge housed interpretive exhibits upstairs and a gift shop and small café on the lower level. Snook says most everything of value had been removed before the fire.
“Everything had already been removed. We’re still trying to discern if the large map in the building was still there. It was in the process of being moved, and everything else had been removed.”
Clallam 2 Fire/Rescue and Port Angeles Fire Department responded to the fire and are today in the mop-up phase. Snook said what remains of the lodge is still extremely hot, so it is still an active emergency. In the meantime, an outside fire investigator is on the way.
“We do have a fire investigator that will hopefully be arriving tomorrow, an outside investigator, a certified fire investigator, to ascertain the origin and the cause.”
We asked Snook if the lodge building was insured, and she said, “The government doesn’t insure anything. It’s just not something that they do.”
The 17-mile mountain road leading up to the building has been closed since construction began on March 27. Snook said there is no guard at the gate, but the property is patrolled on a daily basis.
(Photos: Clallam 2 Fire Rescue)