BROCKPORT – A barn housing maintenance equipment at Scottish Heights Golf Club and Lodge was destroyed by fire Saturday night.
At press time, the cause is undetermined, and both the golf course and restaurant located on Scottish Heights Drive in Brockport are closed.
Brockway Volunteer Hose Company Deputy Chief Devin Trentini said that the call came in at 10:04 p.m.
“It was dispatched as a barn fire,” Trentini said. “Barns don’t take long from an incipient stage to being fully involved, and when we arrived, the whole barn was fully involved.”
Trentini said the barn was the golf course maintenance barn, where Scottish Heights stored golf course equipment, such as mowers, back-hoes and fertilizers.
That was confirmed by Jacki Whalin, who owns and operates Scottish Heights with her husband, Shawn.
“That barn housed tractors, mowers, utility carts, everything we needed to maintain the golf course,” she said. “At this point, we don’t have a shovel. We just celebrated our fourth anniversary here, and much of that equipment was replaced after we reopened from COVID. We just got the last piece three weeks ago, so the equipment in there was new.”
Fire personnel from Brockway, Horton Township, West Sandy, City of DuBois, Brookville and Falls Creek responded, and Trentini said that the fire was contained to the barn.
“As the wind blew, there was a potential for embers, but we didn’t have any exposure issues,” Trentini said. “There was no exposure to the house and property outside of the area immediately surrounding the barn.”
Trentini added that people were still at the bar at Scottish Heights when the fire started, but the location would have made it difficult for anyone there to see what was happening.
No people or animals were hurt during the fire, which is now being investigated. The fire departments were on the scene until 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
“Everything went smoothly from an operational standpoint,” Trentini added.
The Whalins said that the fire marshal came to investigate, but they are unsure how optimistic they should be about finding a cause to the fire. The cause is currently listed as “unknown,” and the building was destroyed, but there was no one near the building when the fire broke out.
During the off-season, Scottish Heights will have to work to replace the lost equipment and get a building to house that equipment.
On Facebook, Scottish Heights thanked the community for its support.
“We appreciate everyone who has reached out with support and prayers,” the announcement read. “We also thank all of our local fire stations for working hours to secure the fire and prevent any additional damage. We will continue to update everyone as we have more information.”
Jacki Whalin added that people in the community are actively helping them.
“Looking outside, I see people here helping,” she said. “We’ve only been in this town for four years, and it’s just amazing for me for how everyone in this community has reached out and are helping.”
As more information becomes available, Scottish Heights will update the community through its Facebook page, but the Whalins are optimistic that the restaurant will open quickly. The maintenance barn housed the electrical meter than provided power to the water pumps up the hill to the restaurant and lodge, which is why the restaurant is closed.
“So many people in the community have reached out, and they’re working to repair that electrical line to get that restaurant and lodge back up,” Jacki Whalin said. “Once all of that happens, we’ll be able to reopen the restaurant. With the golf course, we have some ties to the community to try to get minimal mowers and equipment to do the basic maintenance of the course until we close it for the season.”
Scottish Heights planned to close the golf course at the end of October, and the Whalins are optimistic that the course will reopen before too long.
“We hope that within the next week, we’ll be able to reopen,” they said. “Our team’s pretty amazing. As much as everyone’s devastated, they’re ready to get to work to reopen.”
