The Grand Traverse Yacht Club went up in flames Wednesday night making it a complete loss.
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LEELANAU COUNTY -- a Leelanau County building goes up in flames and fire officials say it's a total loss.
The Grand Traverse Yacht Club in Elmwood Township...just west of Traverse City, caught fire around eleven-thirty Wednesday night, bringing multiple fire departments out to respond.
Elmwood Township fire officials responded to flames shooting out of the roof of The Grand Traverse Yacht Club...and only hours later the building was a complete loss.
"Our deputy chief was driving by coming back from another fire that we were on in Grand Traverse County and he saw the flames through the roof and proceeded to call out equipment," says Elmwood Township Fire Chief Ray Haring.
Chief Haring says nobody was inside the building when it began burning, since the last people left the yacht club around ten fifteen at night. At some point between that time and before midnight is when the blaze began.
"We're not sure where it started at. Mainly because of the wind, you can't really tell. The wind could have pushed it from one place to another before we even got here, but it would have broke through the roof before we got here," says Chief Haring.
The warm temperatures, dry conditions and strong wind gusts only made the flames spread faster throughout the building.
Chief Haring says the situation created additional challenges for all of the fire departments trying to salvage what was left of the yacht club.
"We get it down and then the wind sparks it back up again and that's really what we're fighting here, is the wind," says Chief Haring.
