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Fire causes damage to Lionshead ski shop

Christine Ina Casillas

“There was an electric outlet with the ski bench equipment plugged into it that set off the fire,” said Vail Fire Chief John Gulick.

The fire at the Ski Base Inc. shop, in the Landmark Condominiums building at 610 West Lionshead Circle, had disastrous potential, Gulick said, but a sprinkler system as old as the building stopped the fire from getting out of control.

Customers and staff at Billy’s Island Grill were evacuated, but no injuries were reported.



“It could have been a dangerous situation brewing there,” Gulick said. “But that older sprinkler system did its job.”

The fire was detected at around 9:30 p.m. when the Vail Public Safety Communications Center received an automatic fire alarm, followed by activation of the building’s automatic sprinkler system. When firefighters arrived they saw flames through the windows but the fire was contained and extinguished by the sprinklers, he said.

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“We pretty much went in and did the mop up work,” he said. “The smoke became a problem.”

The store, which was unoccupied at the time, received extensive smoke and water damage. Several shops next door received minor smoke and water damage.

“There was quite a bit of damage to the ski clothing,” he said. “They could get it cleaned and resell it, but it loses its value then. We want to make sure everything’s safe before they are back in business. Hopefully it will be soon because of the holidays. It’s not a good time for business to be slow.”

Christine Ina Casillas can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 607 or at ccasillas@vaildaily.com.


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