News
Fire Damages Hocking Hills Lodge
By: Susan Tebben
Posted on:
UPDATE: Fire investigators and officials from the Hocking Hills Dining Lodge are anticipating the building will be a total loss.
Photo courtesy of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources
The fire was reported at about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday morning at the restaurant on State Route 664 near Old Man’s Cave.
“At this time (the Ohio Department of Natural Resources) staff will begin to assess the full extent of the damage caused, while continuing to assist the State Fire Marshal in their investigation,” Matt Eiselstein, ODNR spokesperson, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the state fire marshal said no damage estimate is available, nor is a cause or point of origin for the fire.
Employees of the lodge will be contacting those who had events booked at the lodge and the lodge “will be back at some point,” according to a post on the Hocking Hills Dining Lodge’s Facebook page.
LOGAN– Investigators are still assessing a fire that destroyed the Hocking Hills Dining Lodge on Thursday morning.
Multiple county fire departments, including the Laurelville and Logan departments, were dispatched at about 8:30 a.m. to the restaurant near Old Man’s Cave, according to reports from the Logan Fire Department
The fire was reported before the business opened.
The Ohio State Fire Marshal was called to investigate the crime, which is not an indication of foul play, but rather an option that any fire department can use in a fire investigation.
Lindsey LeBerthe, spokesperson for the office, said it is too early to confirm a cause or origin of the fire.
“They are still interviewing people at the scene…and so a cause or origin, we’re just not going to know quite yet,” LeBerthe said.
Brooke Betit, of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, who owns the building, said while the building was not a total loss, it is unclear when the building will reopen.
“We are assessing what will happen, but there are plenty of alternatives (in the Hocking Hills) so people can still enjoy it,” Betit said.
Employees of the restaurant were able to escape the building and no injuries were reported, Betit said.