The iconic wooden lodge at a popular resort near Callaway — about 20 miles north of Detroit Lakes — is considered a total loss after a fire swept through a large portion of the structure Monday morning.
Fire destroys Maplelag Resort lodge — for the second time in 23 years
The owner told the Detroit Lakes Tribune he plans to rebuild again.
October 11, 2022 at 5:35PM
Emergency dispatchers received a call of thick smoke in the main building of Maplelag Resort, which is known for its mountain bike and cross-country skiing trails, just after 8:30 a.m. Monday.
Within minutes of the first call, nearly a dozen regional fire departments were paged for mutual aid, according to Becker County Chief Deputy Shane Richard, who said firefighters were on scene all day and into the evening. No one was hurt in the fire.
Keith Heinlein, chief of Callaway's volunteer fire department, said the building's size and the remote setting made it difficult to fight the fire. Crews pulled water from the nearby lake to extinguish the blaze, he said.
Firefighters were called back out to the scene Tuesday morning to extinguish flare-ups in the rubble. The state fire marshal's office is working to determine the cause of the fire.
It's the second time the resort's main lodge has been destroyed by fire. In 1999, an outbuilding that housed the boiler caught fire and the blaze spread to the main lodge, destroying irreplaceable collections of metal lunch boxes, stained-glass windows, antique light fixtures and street signs.
But owner Jim Richards rebuilt the cozy lodge that has hosted countless families and high school ski teams over the years, as well as other groups for retreats. Just this weekend, the resort hosted a quilting retreat in its dance hall.
Richards bought the resort property on Little Sugar Bush Lake with his wife, brother and two other couples in the early 1970s. They produced maple syrup at the site for a dozen years but ceased production in 1988, the resort's website states, as the early sap runs conflicted with the ski season.
The owners opened lodging in the mid-1970s and the resort has grown to about 660 acres over the years. It attracts Nordic skiers from across the country and is known for its family-style meals in the large gathering space.
The resort also started hosting the Concordia College Language Village programs in the 1970s. It has hosted the Spanish language camp annually since 1996.
Richards told the Detroit Lakes Tribune he plans to rebuild again.
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