Grand Lake cabin destroyed by fire; cause under investigation

A fire destroyed a Grand Lake cabin along the canal Thursday, causing damage to one neighboring house.

Neighbor Marti Baltz noticed the fire around 3:30 p.m. when the windows in her and her husband Steve’s cabin were cracking from the intense heat.

Marti mistook the cracking for hail, she said, but when she peaked through a window, she saw the next-door cabin engulfed in flames.

The structure belongs to the Beavers of Denver, who were not at their Grand Lake cabin at the time, according to neighbors.

The stone fireplace is all that remains standing after the cabin fire. The fire was nearly extinguished at around 5 p.m.

There were no reported injuries.

Baltz called 911, and Grand Lake Firefighters contained the blaze, keeping it from igniting the Baltz’s own historic log cabin.

A total of nine windows in the Baltzes’ home cracked, and the log siding facing the burning home was scorched in places.

Steve Baltz said he was taking a nap when he noticed smoke in the air, thinking it was from their own fireplace.

The couple, owners of the Kickapoo Lodge, said they were grateful they were staying at their cabin that day.

Just five or 10 minutes longer and their home would have been on fire, they estimated, and the blaze possibly could have spread further.

The origin of the fire is still being investigated.