Fire broke out at Lake Delhi Marina early this morning, burning the showroom and shop to the ground. The business is located along Highway 13 between Manchester and Ryan in Delaware County.
Owner Rusty Peck, who lives on Lake Delhi, says he couldn’t believe it when he arrived at the scene. Peck says he got a call at 3:30 this morning that the shop was on fire and he dashed over to find the entire structure in flames.
Investigators with the Ryan Fire Department aren’t sure yet what caused the fire, but Peck says there were several explosions. His two sons were staying in a building across the parking lot from the marina. They were awakened by what they thought were gunshots and thought a break-in was in progress. They armed themselves and looked out the window to see the fire.
Peck estimates the loss of the building and its contents at over one-million dollars. He says there were new boats, used boats, customers’ boats, a skid loader, a truck — many things were lost in the fire. Lake Delhi Marina is going into its tenth year of business and has been located at this particular site for about three years.
Ryan firefighters were still on the scene late Wednesday morning. The cause of the blaze is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.