NY Firefighters Battled Blaze at Once-Iconic Grossinger's Catskill Resort
Lana Bellamy
Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
(TNS)
Aug. 17—Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the specific use of the building that burned remains unknown.
TOWN OF LIBERTY — A building on the once-iconic Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel site was demolished Tuesday night after a devastating fire tore through the vacant and decrepit property.
By the time the first crews arrived at the site, located near state Route 52 and Sullivan Avenue in the town of Liberty, the three-and-a-half-story building was engulfed in flames, according to information posted online by the Liberty Fire Department. A smoke column was visible for several miles.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, said John Hauschild, fire coordinator at the Sullivan County Bureau of Fire.
The Bureau of Fire is investigating the incident with the State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, State Police Troop F's Trooper Steven Nevel confirmed.
Grossinger's resort was one of the largest of the Borscht Belt resorts, and was used as inspiration for the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing." It was permanently closed in 1986 and has since fallen into a state of disrepair. The property had been long vacant by the time Tuesday's fire broke out.
Other buildings at the resort had been demolished prior to the fire. It was not immediately clear Wednesday which building burned, or what the structure had been used for when Grossinger's was open.
Firefighters from several departments battled the fire for six hours, according to the Liberty Fire Department's post online. Their efforts were hampered by the property's overgrown state and concrete barriers on the road that made it difficult for a fire apparatus to navigate turns.
Moreover, more than 1,000 feet of hose had to be stretched between the fire and tankers that were providing water at the bottom of a nearby hill, according to the post.
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