According to reports in the Stowe Day citing a recent police report, members of the Burton family accidentally caused a fire in an old stone warming hut on top of Mount Mansfield near Stowe, Vermont. The family had the hut rented out for the holiday when the fire occurred. Crews fought the blaze Christmas Eve but the hut was seriously damaged.
In the report, Jake Burton’s sons Timothy and George, had gone to the hut to prepare it for a family friend who would be staying there. The brothers built a large fire to warm the hut–which would have been 80 years old in 2016. They brought wet wood into the structure to dry it out for later. “A few of the pieces were placed at an angle where the tip of the wood was against the stove and made a ‘hissing’ sound as the snow began to melt against it,” the police report reads.
The friend never showed up and as the lifts close at 4 p.m., the brothers were not able to get back to the structure atop the mountain. Once the wood leaning against the stove dried, it caught fire and set the rest of the hut ablaze. The brothers went to mountain officials the next morning when they heard there had been a fire to report there involvement.
On the positive side, donations have poured in from nostalgic members of the community. For years, families have rented the hut for overnight stays and recreation. It’s a big part of the community. “We’re happy. More than happy, actually. We’re blown away,” said Michael Snyder, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. “We still plan, and I say plan, to rebuild.”
