Nov. 1, 2003

Historic Royal Gorge Lodge burns

Truckee, Nov. 1 (AP) - An investigation continues into the cause of a fire that destroyed the Royal Gorge Wilderness Lodge near Donner Summit west of Truckee.

The 14,000-square-foot building was fully engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived early Thursday morning. Royal Gorge is a cross-country ski resort.

"It's a devastating loss for us, but we're going to deal with it," resort owner John Sloluber said. "We'll rebuild it."

Some sections of the lodge dated back to 1865, and the building underwent renovations about a decade ago.

Royal Gorge employees began moving into the lodge for the winter just the night before. Fire officials said the blaze was caused by something inside the lodge, but they were unsure what. Because the only access road to the lodge is long and unpaved, it took the first crews about 20 minutes to arrive at the scene.