Apex lodge burns to the ground
by Wayne Moore of The Penticton News
Nov 24, 2010
Despite their best efforts, fire crews could not save the Saddleback Lodge at Apex Mountain Resort.
The bed and breakfast caught fire about 3 a.m. Tuesday.
Ski resort General Manager, James Shalman, confirmed Wednesday the building could not be saved.
"Unfortunately it burned right to the ground. We could contain it within the building, but we couldn’t put it out," says Shalman.
"We had the Apex Volunteer Fire Department working on it, we had a fire truck come up from Penticton with all their firefighters but unfortunately, it burned to the ground."
Shalman says the cause of the fire is still not known. Damage is in the millions of dollars.
Owner/operator Barb Davis was the lone occupant of the lodge at the time of the fire.
She was able to get out of the building and call for help.
Shalman says as far as he knows, Davis does plan to rebuild at some point.
As for vacationers who have already booked accommodations at the lodge, Shalman says those people will be looked after.
"Definitely we will look after everybody that did have bookings with the Saddleback Lodge and make sure they are still going to have a great time at Apex. We will be able to fulfill their vacation needs up here."