The Lutsen Fire Department was paged to cabin 4 at Solbakken Resort to fight a fire on Wednesday, January 23. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire, but the cabin is likely a complete loss.
When a page went out to the Lutsen Fire Department at 2:10 p.m. on Wednesday, January 23, firefighters undoubtedly thought the address—cabin 4 at Solbakken Resort—sounded familiar. For good reason—the fire department was called to a fire at the same cabin two years ago, oddly on the exact same date.
Solbakken Resort is owned by Michael and Maureen O’Phelan. Reached by phone, Michael O’Phelan said they were baffled by the cause of the fire. No guests had been in the cabin since January 8, but staff members check on all six of the Solbakken cabins daily. The fire was spotted by housekeeping staff conducting deep cleaning in an adjacent cabin.
“Maureen got the call at Cascade and we flew over there, hoping it was something small, but by the time we got there, it was engulfed in fire,” said O’Phelan.
Members of the Lutsen Fire Department were on the scene of this fire by 2:27 p.m. Lutsen Fire Chief Paul Goettl noted that the first two firefighters on the scene were two of the newest fire department members. He said they did an excellent job assessing and responding to the fire. “We’ve been training and you can see that our training is paying off. They did a good job.”
The Tofte and Schroeder Fire Departments also responded, as well as the Cook County Ambulance. Goettl said the ambulance crewmembers, who are also Grand Marais firefighters, were helpful with directions and incident command. There were no injuries, although a few wet firefighters had to take a break to sit in a warm truck to thaw out their turnout gear.
The fire department was able to quickly extinguish the fire, which had lit a nearby tree on fire. They then had to ventilate the structure, cutting holes in the roof and gables to pull out smoldering insulation, to ensure the blaze was out.
Fire Chief Goettl said the fire department was able to keep the fire from spreading to the nearby cabin.
Asked if he knew the cause of the fire, Goettl said that would be determined by the resort’s insurance investigator. He said the fire appeared to have started near a gas water heater, but added, “I don’t want to speculate.”
Michael O’Phelan said the cabin had been gutted and completely built after the 2011 fire. It was refitted with new gas lines and water heater. He said he hopes an investigation by his insurance company will be able to ascertain the cause of the fire.
Asked if he would be able to restore the cabin again, O’Phelan said it didn’t seem likely. “It’s much worse this time,” he said, noting that the resort had received a variance from the county to rebuild on a slightly larger footprint after the 2011 fire, but they decided not to do that. O’Phelan said the resort would now have to reconsider the plan to rebuild completely.
The fire departments were cleared from the scene at 5:23 p.m. It was nice, said Goettl, to have the newly expanded Lutsen fire hall to return to after the fire. “It was great to have room to lay hoses and equipment out, to have room to clean everything up,” he said.
O’Phelan added thanks to the fire departments for their efforts. “There were a lot of volunteers there. We really appreciate that.”
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