WATERTON PARK, Alberta, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- An old-fashioned lodge in Waterton Lakes National Park in the Canadian Rockies burned to the ground early Tuesday.
Kilmorey Lodge was gutted before the first fire truck arrived at the scene, Lockey Craig, one of the owners, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The nearest firehouses were more than 20 miles away. Everyone inside made it out safely.
"It was like a bad dream," Craig said of the 4 a.m. fire.
The lodge was built as a rooming house in 1926, burned down seven years later and was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1940.
Rod Blair, the park superintendent, described the lodge as an "icon," popular with visitors and with park employees. Many, like Blair, were frequent lunchers since Kilmorey had the only restaurant open all winter.
"I think it was the only place left that didn't have televisions, radios and telephones in the rooms. It was keeping in the era of the original rooming house," he said.
Craig said that the owners plan to rebuild the lodge.
Kilmorey Lodge was in Winter Park, the town surrounded by the national park. Waterton Lakes is on the U.S. border, forming a double park with Glacier National Park to the south.
