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Smoke rises from the Prairie Lake Lodge on Monday, one day after a fire devastated the clubhouse. The lodge is located 10 kilometres north of Inglis between Russell and Roblin.
An owner of a Westman golf course clubhouse that burned to the ground this weekend already has plans to rebuild.
Despite the fire, the course will open as planned, and golfers won’t have to miss a single round this season.
"We expect to start rebuilding here within a week or two," Dave Keating said on Monday, the day after his building at Prairie Lake Lodge and Golf Course was destroyed.
Inglis Fire Department Chief Reg Burla said his crew was called to the course about 10 kilometres north of Inglis at 10:20 a.m. on Sunday.
"When we got there, she was basically fully engulfed," Burla said.
Ten firefighters fought the flames using three pumper trucks — which drenched the structure with 12,000 gallons of water — but it wasn’t enough to save the building.
The structure was mainly wood, Burla noted, and even the interior was finished with rough barn boards.
"Just the way it was finished inside, with all of that wood and stuff, it burned pretty quick," he said.
The Office of the Fire Commissioner has been at the site but no cause has been determined yet. Burla said there’s nothing to suggest that the blaze was suspicious and there were no injuries.
The fire happened just as the course — owned by Keating and his father, Gerald — was preparing to open for the season. Keating placed flags into holes on the greens on Friday.
He said the fire won’t affect the course, which will open as soon as the weather warms up to about 10 C to 12 C. According to Environment Canada, that could happen by Thursday.
The clubhouse was to open in another two or three weeks.
The octagonal building, which was about 2,000 square feet, was built in 2003, which is around the time the course opened. Keating estimates it cost about $200,000 to build.
The structure was insured and Keating said construction of a new clubhouse will begin once the remains of the old one are cleared away.
Three people work on the course while eight to 10 people were employed at the clubhouse, which included a restaurant.
Construction of a new clubhouse should take a couple of months, but Keating said employees shouldn’t find themselves out of work.
The staff mainly consists of his family members, and the busy season doesn’t start until July anyway. A trailer could serve as a temporary clubhouse. And while the restaurant is gone, the business may serve hungry golfers barbecued burgers on busy days.
"We’ll have to be kind of creative," Keating said.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition April 10, 2012
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An owner of a Westman golf course clubhouse that burned to the ground this weekend already has plans to rebuild.
Despite the fire, the course will open as planned, and golfers won’t have to miss a single round this season.
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An owner of a Westman golf course clubhouse that burned to the ground this weekend already has plans to rebuild.
Despite the fire, the course will open as planned, and golfers won’t have to miss a single round this season.
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