Fire destroys Spiritwood cabin

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Ben Rodgers / The Sun Jamestown Rural Fire Department firefighters pour water Friday afternoon on Kurt Eddy’s cabin at Spiritwood Lake, N.D. The fire destroyed the structure.

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SPIRITWOOD LAKE, N.D. — Kurt Eddy, New Rockford, N.D., was planning on tearing down his lakeside cabin and rebuilding on higher ground. He got much more help than he wanted when a fire destroyed the structure Friday afternoon.

The Jamestown Rural Fire Department arrived at 347 Glenwood Ave. at 1:47 p.m. Friday, said Rick Woehl, assistant fire chief, after a fire call went out at about 1:14. They had the blaze under control by 2:30.

When they arrived, flames from the cabin fire were already towering into some nearby trees, Woehl said.

No one was injured in the blaze and the surrounding properties were not damaged, he said.

“The wind was in our favor blowing towards the lake,” Woehl said.

He said if the wind was not blowing to the northwest, nearby homes and properties could have sustained damage.

The fire department had a total of six fire trucks and 11 firefighters on scene, Woehl said. No damage estimates were available.

Because of the location of the blue cabin, the fire department fought the blaze from above in a wooded area and on the road leading up to the structure.

The road to the cabin was originally blocked by a locked gate. But at around 12:45 p.m. Dave Glaspell, who lives on the lake, called his neighbor Dave Robertson, former Jamestown fire chief, to come by with his bolt cutters and open the gate, Robertson said.

“I scoped it out, found the only way to get down and cut the gate,” Robertson said.

Robertson was with his friend Kenny Ostby, a former Jamestown firefighter for 15 years who also lives on the lake.

“It was black coming up then she started getting worse and worse,” Ostby said.

Both Ostby and Robertson said they heard some minor explosions from inside the blaze.

“It sounded like propane tanks and .22 shells,” Robertson said.

Eddy said there may have been a box of .22 LR cartridges in the cabin but could not remember.

He said he was already partially moved out but still lost some custom kitchen cabinets, appliances and artwork in the fire.

“It was an old cabin,” Eddy said. “I’m going to miss that, one of the last original spots on the lake.”

Eddy estimated the cabin was at least 110 years old. He owned it for 11 years, he said.

He now has no immediate plans to rebuild his cabin.

“I’m still kind of in shock I guess,” he said.

For Eddy, the most important part of battling the fire was that his neighbor’s properties weren’t damaged from the blaze, he said.

“Considering how far this is from town I’m amazed. These guys are great,” he said.

Eddy hasn’t spent a night in his cabin this year because of water damage from the spring floods.

He also had the power box disconnected and pulled because of his plans to rebuild. This leaves Eddy and fire department officials curious as to what caused the fire.

“All I’m going to say at this point is it’s positively under investigation,” Woehl said.

Sun reporter Ben Rodgers can be reached at 701-952-8455 or by e-mail at brodgers@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, fire, spiritwood, cabin