The maintenance building at Highland Meadows Golf Course in Windsor, Colo., was destroyed as a result of a fire early Wednesday morning.
Windsor-Severance Fire Protection District was dispatched at around 2:45 a.m. and it took about an hour to control the blaze.
Windsor-Severance fire marshal Mike Davis said the cause of the fire was the improper disposal of oil-soaked rags from staining. The rags were in the trash can in the building, which is located at 6701 Crooked Stick Drive and is owned by Windsor developer Jon Turner. The golf course is located on the west end of Windsor near Interstate 25.
“Oil-soaked rags create a lot of heat. You have to hang them up to dry,” Windsor-Severance public information officer Lt. Todd Vess said. “If you wad them up, they create a lot of heat and then they catch on fire. They're oil soaked and they really go.”
Loveland Fire & Rescue Department was also on hand. There was a total of 28 firefighters on scene, and there were no injuries, Vess said.
“It came in as a possible garage on fire. When we got on scene, the whole north side of the building was involved,” Vess said. “The roof was already gone. We went defensive immediately. We were putting about 270,000 gallons of water an hour on it. It was a real heavy fire load inside there with all that equipment. It's obviously all gas powered. There's fertilizer storage in there. There was a lot of combustible stuff in there.”
Dan Miller, golf course superintendent, said the 7,000-square-foot building is eight years old and is worth $750,000. He said the golf course mowers, tools, pump station and other maintenance equipment were worth another $500,000, making the total loss at around $1.25 million. “It's a huge setback, but we'll overcome it and be ready to go,” Miller said. “When I got the call, my jaw hit the floor.”
Miller said the golf course was built in 2004, and he helped design the interior of the maintenance building.
“It's been a big part of my life for a long time,” Miller said. “I helped build this golf course, but we're going to rebuild it. It's bad this had to happen, but I'm glad it happened now and not in the middle of the season.”
READ THE REST OF THIS STORY>>>
