By LOIS CLERMONT
KEESEVILLE — Fire destroyed a vacant bowling alley in Keeseville late Wednesday night, but firefighters were able to save two nearby buildings.
Firefighters from several area departments, led by the Keeseville Fire Department, did their best to battle the blaze at Keeseville Lanes and Lounge at 93 Kent St.
Peru, AuSable Forks, Willsboro, South Plattsburgh and District 3 crews joined Keeseville firefighters at the site around 10 p.m. and worked through the night.
The huge structure has been used as a bowling alley on and off for at least 50 years but was up for sale at the time of the fire.
Owned by Sonny Tromblay, it had reopened for a short time a few years ago but has been closed since at least April 2008.
NEIGHBORS CALL 911
Neighbors Joe and Katrina Burnell and Carly Sweeney all smelled smoke about 10:15 p.m. and walked over toward the bowling alley to check it out.
“I could feel the heat off the building and could hear the crackling,” Joe Burnell said.
They called 911 to report the fire.
Keeseville Fire Chief David Winter said the fire had a good head start before they arrived.
“The building was full of heavy smoke, a lot of it up in the attic. We had a hard time getting to it right from the get-go.”
He said the open nature of the bowling alley didn’t help any.
“There was a tremendous amount of smoke — you couldn’t see across street at times.”
When it is humid, as it was Wednesday night, the heavy air prevents the smoke from rising.
AERIAL TESTED
The Keeseville Fire Department had just put its new aerial ladder truck into service at a work detail held a few hours before the fire.
The 1989 truck had replaced the department’s 1977 aerial model.
District 3 Fire Department helped out with its aerial truck.
“The aerials did the bulk of the heavy work,” Winter said.
Power was out in a section of the village for about two hours Wednesday night during the fire.
Winter didn’t know whether the building was insured, and Tremblay couldn’t be reached Thursday.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated Thursday, but Winter said it was not considered suspicious.
GOOD SAVE
The NAPA store, which is within feet of the bowling alley, was saved from severe damage, although the smoke and water took their toll.
Dad’s Video, also nearby, suffered some smoke damage.
Trucks and dumpsters were at the site Thursday morning to start to clear debris.
