PARK CITY, Utah — A fire in a Park City condo complex is making it that much harder for visitors to find a place to stay this ski season; it happened Wednesday at the Town Point Condos near 1000 Park Avenue.
It's impacting those who are in town to hit the slopes as well as those that rent out their properties.
"It's something that you never expect to happen and then when it does, you're like 'wow this is really wild', and it affects people in many, many ways," said Park City Property Manager Kollin Kleinendorst.
Kleinendorst manages and owns some units at the Towne Point Condos in Park City, and he says with peak season here, this is the worst time for something like this to happen.
"We did have guests in some of these units where the fires happened, five were damaged quite heavily and those guests have to go somewhere else, so it's very unfortunate," Kleinendorst said.
Park City Batallion Fire Chief Scott Greenwood says he assumes the condos were at full occupancy with ski season being in full swing, so anywhere from 50-70 people could have been vacationing in the rental units when they caught ablaze.
Chief Greenwood says since everyone got out of the building, searching for the fire was their main priority.
"This was a difficult fire as it was located in three different floors and had spread within the chimney stations between each of those floors, so it was difficult to access and get water to," he said.
Condos with heavy damage affected by the fire had collapsed chimneys, walls melted off the posts, and debris everywhere.
"It definitely puts a lot of hardships on things. Fortunately, there's a lot of insurance involved with the bookings whether you use VRBO, AIRBNB, or your own platform," Kleinendorst said.
Chief Greenwood says the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but both he and Kleinendorst say it's important to keep up on fireplace maintenance during the winter months.
"It's a good reminder for all of us to have your chimneys swept . . . every time there are fires repeatedly within those, it does leave residue that can become flammable when heated," he said.
"As far as prevention, all the units have gas fireplaces, so you obviously have to be careful with that," Kleinendorst added.
HOA maintenance manager Greg Parks said that the timetable for when Building B units can be occupied varies depending on the extent of damage. For the more impacted units, it could be months before visitors can rent them out again.
