Cordillera Ranch fire still being assessed

BERGHEIM – A fire that heavily damaged The Clubs of Cordillera Ranch Tuesday afternoon remains under investigation, officials said Friday.

Firefighters praised employees who attempted to douse the flames.

No injuries were reported and a damage estimate is pending, though officials said the figure could be several hundred thousand dollars.

“A couple of workers took some fire extinguishers up there to try and knock it out,” Kendall County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Fincke said. “They weren’t able to put it out, but they were able to suppress it.”

On Friday, Fincke said the cause of the conflagration remained undetermined, but investigators believe it was sparked in the back corner of the roof.

“The whole clubhouse is impacted either by some water damage or some smoke, but the main structural damage from the fire is above the back corner above the main dining room and their wine room,” Fincke said. “And they have another dining area that got some water damage.”

The financial toll on the structure is under review.

“We really haven’t put an estimate to it,” Fincke said. “We were waiting to hear what the insurance people thought, but it’s going to be several hundred thousand dollars worth of damage.”

Kendall County dispatchers were notified shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday that flames were visible on the roof along with thick black smoke and what sounded like a minor explosion, according to Sheriff’s Office call sheets.

Several fire departments responded to the blaze, which took two hours to extinguish.

Fincke said if the club owners are able to isolate the power supply away from those damaged areas, the recreational space could be up and running fairly quickly.

During the incident, the club’s fire-dousing sprinkler system malfunctioned, dumping large amounts of water into a couple of rooms and adding to the overall damage, Fincke said.

So, to avoid any further complications, power to the water-soaked sections of the club had to be shut off, he said.

“The majority of the water damage came from

Photo courtesy of Bergheim Volunteer Fire Department.