PUSLINCH — The smell of smoke wafts across the trailer park that overlooks the smoldering pit where the Old Marina Restaurant on Puslinch Lake was before Saturday’s devastating fire.
After excavators removed the building’s roof to help extinguish hot spots inside, all that remained Monday was the black, ashen ruins of one of the region’s landmark restaurants.
Five different fire crews were called to the scene Saturday afternoon to put out the blaze, with firefighters coming from Cambridge and Guelph. The building continued to smolder into Sunday, with firefighters spraying water on hot spots more than 24 hours after the first blaze.
Only a few symbolic walls of the interior wooden structure remained on Monday, with most of the building destroyed. A contractor was on scene with a small crew preparing to clear most of the remaining debris.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but it is believed to have started in the basement. Fire crews will begin to investigate once the structure is completely destroyed and they can safely enter the basement.
This is the second time the community has been hit by a devastating fire in the last 17 years. In 2005, the original restaurant was completely destroyed by fire, only to be replaced two years later in 2007. The current structure existed for 15 years before Saturday’s fire.
A red fence surrounded the former building on Monday and a steady stream of cars streamed into the gravel parking lot, each filled with passengers holding cameras and phones trying to capture photos and videos of the wreckage.
A private security guard was on duty, called by the restaurant’s owner after there were multiple reports on Sunday of people trying to steal valuables from the wreckage.
“People were driving in and trying to get stuff,” said Michelle Hurd, who lives in the trailer park next door. “It’s really sad when you have something as devastating as this and people come and try to steal things.”
The driveway to the park was closed for most of Saturday as fire crews worked to battle the blaze – initially only park residents were allowed in. But once the road reopened, the cars didn’t stop coming.
“Yesterday it was still smoldering and they’re going up and trying to get signs and whatever they can catch,” said Nancy Gray, another park resident who was out for a walk Monday.
Hurd and Gray were in their trailer Saturday and said they first noticed the smoke in the early afternoon.
“It didn’t look like anything serious,” Hurd said. “I actually got back home and went inside before we noticed it was getting any worse.”
Thick black smoke soon billowed through the air, forcing neighboring residents to batten down their hatches and close all their doors and windows.
The smoke smelled like a burning tire pit, said Terry Kennedy, who has lived in his trailer since 2000. He was there in 2005 when the first fire destroyed the original restaurant — this one was bigger, he said.
“We were lucky because the wind was blowing toward the lake,” he said, sitting on a swing with his neighbor Brenda Walsh.
“If the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction, they would have had to evacuate the whole area because the smoke was so thick and black,” Walsh added. “There were flames 20 feet above the building, you could feel the heat.”
Heard, watching from a safe distance, said the furnace eventually exploded in an eruption of flames, smoke and sound — “that part was really pretty scary,” she said.
Fortunately, everyone in the building was evacuated and there were no reports of injuries.
Residents of the trailer park stood for hours as firefighters continued to battle the blaze overnight, watching their gathering place burn to the ground. Some played cards and others took pictures and video.
Some residents whose homes are nearby packed up to escape the smoke. Many others continued into the weekend, with most staying inside.
The trailer park is packed for the summer months with a mix of longtime residents and newcomers, some with young families and others long since retired. The Kennedys have three generations with properties on the grounds and a host of friends they’ve made over the years.
“It’s a wonderful community,” he said. “Everyone is extremely friendly; the owners have always been nice to everyone. There were never any problems.”
Now, as the site continues to be cleared and Monday’s downpour begins to wash away the smell, residents of the community hope that history will repeat itself and that one day a new restaurant will pop up on the site of the rubble.
“The restaurant was always full and there were always people coming in and out,” Hurd said. “I know the last time I got burned it took two years to recover. So it might not be possible for next year, but hopefully something will come back.”
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