Fire-damaged park pavilion to be replaced at Cross Creek
State police have closed the investigation into a fire that destroyed a Cross Creek park pavilion Thanksgiving Day, and Washington County commissioners Wednesday considered rebuilding.
No charges will be filed in connection with the blaze, said Lisa Cessna, executive director of Washington County Planning Commission, which oversees county parks, but it is believed to have originated in a fireplace.
No one obtained a permit for the use of the shelter, which had no firewood stored on the premises. Someone brought fuel to the site. Commission Chairman Larry Maggi, a former state trooper who was a state police assistant fire marshal for a short time, said that during Thanksgiving weekend, an ember ignited the blaze, which engulfed the structure and interior picnic tables.
Firefighters from Avella, Slovan, Mt. Pleasant Township and West Middletown extinguished the conflagration, which was spotted by a boater.
The county plans to purchase a replacement shelter – without a fireplace – from Peter Jeffrey Associates of Indianola, Allegheny County, at a cost of $29,902, which includes $10,500 for the installation of the shelter.
The burned shelter had rooftop solar panels that contributed renewable energy credits applied to electricity usage at the park for lighting in various places and heating and air conditioning at the park office, and the new shelter will have similar equipment.
The energy credits, totaling $487, were first applied in 2015. Energy Independent Solutions of Robinson Township, Allegheny County, constructed a closet in the shelter to house the equipment for the solar panel inverter and associated wiring. The county will pay EIS $4,400 to remove the solar panels from the old shelter and test them to determine if they are usable. The firm also will charge the county $50 a month to store any functioning panels and dispose of the rest.
Oil and gas revenues from the park paid for the American-made solar panel project.
The intense heat chipped the pavilion’s concrete, and Cessna said replacing some of the slab will be the final part of the job.