PARK TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Park Township Community Building caught on fire Saturday night, but the Ottawa County Fair says events will go on as scheduled.
The fire started Saturday night during severe weather.
READ MORE: Storm damage, power outages happening across West Michigan
FOX 17 talked with Park Township Fire Chief Scott Gamby who said crews believe lightning started the fire, but as of Sunday, the official cause was still undetermined.
Witnesses nearby told fire crews there was a lightning strike and a large boom that shook their campers about a half hour before first responders arrived.
Whether or not storm conditions started the fire, Chief Gamby said the weather made it harder for crews to put out the flames.
“Through that operation, another storm cell came through and caused lightning. When lightning comes in, we’ve got to lower the ladder or truck. We can’t work up in the sky with lightning, so the fire had a chance to reset itself into the attic and that happened to us twice until the storm could blow through and we could get back up there,” added Chief Gamby.
He says emergency responders stumbled upon the fire, while in the area handling other calls.
“We were just clearing two previous calls before this came through. We were headed to our third call of the night and…we noticed a huge haze, or smoke, and the smell of smoke right by the fairgrounds,” Chief Gamby told FOX 17 Sunday.
According to the Ottawa County Fair’s official Facebook page, it will adjust its “area of fun,” which previously included the stage inside the community building.
Chief Gamby says it’s not even safe for his own crews to go inside.
“The building was built back in 1937. They’re not designed now to handle that type of heat that was in there and we’re not going to lose anybody. That’s out number one goal. We’re not going to lose any firefighters, so we went into a defensive mode. That’s where we work on the outside,” Chief Gamby said.
The Park Township Fire Department called in state investigators to figure out what exactly caused the fire.
The Ottawa County Fair says Elliott Amusement arrived at the fairgrounds Saturday night and started setting up Sunday. Rides will start Tuesday, as planned.
They say vendors also got there Saturday, along with food and barnyard animals.
The Ottawa County Fair starts Monday at 5 p.m.
