Eight people escaped uninjured when a Mount Washington chalet caught fire Saturday night.
The Oyster River fire department received the call about 10 p.m., and four firefighters based at the ski resort responded immediately, said Fire Chief Bruce Green.
They reached the chalet on utility terrain vehicles, because there is no road access in the alpine village, Green said.
“They were able to use our UTV to get access to the building, hook up the fire hydrants, start putting water on the fire,” he said.
More crews from the volunteer department arrived shortly afterward and helped put out the flames. Firefighters were still working Sunday morning to extinguish hot spots.
“Because there’s lots of snow on the roof, for safety we’re not going to put any firefighters in there, because there’s no need, so it’s just real hard for us to get in to access all the hot spots that are still burning,” Green said.
The fire does not appear to be suspicious, he said.
This is the first time the Mount Washington-based crews have responded to a blaze since the Oyster River department took over fire protection at the resort in December 2017.
“We have a storage container up there that’s got fire equipment up on the mountain with the idea in the near future to have a fire hall up on Mount Washington,” Green said.
Before the arrangement, fire crews responded to flames only if there was imminent risk to human life.
In February 2015, residents watched as three chalets burned to the ground. The incident prompted the Comox Valley Regional District to create a steering committee of property owners, local strata representatives and Mount Washington owners to explore options to establish a local fire protection service.
