Fire destroys maintenance building at River Forest Country Club

Gary Miller spent Thursday morning tallying losses — expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars — caused by a fire that ravaged River Forest Country Club’s maintenance building before dawn.

Items lost included 24 golf carts, at least two lawn mowers and an array of handheld maintenance equipment, according to Miller, general manager of River Forest.

“We’ll have a hard time fixing stuff now, for sure,” Miller said.

No one was hurt in the fire or its aftermath.

Fire crews were called to Club House Road in Allegheny Township shortly before 4:30 a.m. Thursday, according to emergency officials.

Mark Marshall Jr., the club’s superintendent, said firefighters were on the scene until about 7 a.m. He described a swift response to contain and put out the fire in the maintenance building, which is next to the clubhouse and restaurant.

The first crews arrived in under 10 minutes, he said. Ultimately, about 20 tankers from roughly a half-dozen departments were dispatched, Marshall said.

There are no fire hydrants at River Forest. According to the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, crews filled up tankers in Freeport and shuttled water across the Allegheny River to the scene.

Authorities have not determined what caused the fire and continue to investigate.

The golf course and clubhouse opened as normal Thursday, according to Kyle Kubicko, the club’s restaurant manager and event coordinator. No events will need to be rescheduled.

Several other equipment sheds on the property were not affected.

Marshall said the club has no choice but to persevere.

“Nobody got killed. Nobody got hurt,” Marshall said. “Everything else can be replaced.”

Staff writer Patrick Varine contributed to this report.