At 3:02 a.m. on Dec. 28 the North Tahoe Fire Protection District responded to a structure fire at Homewood Mountain Resort’s South Lodge. Not long after, further resources were brought in from North Lake Fire Protection District, Truckee Fire Protection District, and Squaw Valley Fire Department. This theme of community support in times of crisis is seen in continued response to this crisis.
“Every [Tahoe] ski area has reached out to see if there is anything they can do,” Kevin Mitchell, general manager of Homewood, said. “It is extremely heartwarming.”
Homewood’s South Lodge, which burned to the ground in the fire, was primarily used as a restaurant and for administrative offices, but it was also the location of the national patrol locker room and kids’ ski school. In addition to losses from the mountain’s administrative offices, the fire destroyed patrol uniforms, ski school uniforms, and employees’ gear.
Neighboring resort Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows started to help almost immediately.
“We have the resources to help them,” Andy Wirth, President and CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, said. “The entire industry rallied and I know they would have done the same for us.”
Wednesday afternoon, the same day as the early morning fire, Squaw delivered 19 boxes filled with 24 patrol jackets, 80 pairs of ski pants, and 95 raincoats to Homewood.
“It was admirable they wanted to open the next day,” said Melissa Strolz, manager of uniforms at Squaw/Alpine. “And we wanted to help them with that.”
The process of boxing up uniforms was expedited and Squaw’s inventory was serendipitous. Strolz, who worked with Mitchell during the 2014 Squaw/Alpine merger, explained that the Squaw uniform department had 15 North Face patrol jackets with no logos that had been sent over to the resort a few years back for a test. They also had some older patrol jackets with the small Squaw/Alpine yin and yang logo.
“It’s beautiful for people to see these resorts’ logos at one place,” Strolz said. “These uniforms should work, at least until Homewood gets back on their feet, and, in the meantime, the jackets represent a community coming together.”
Elianne Furtney, Adult Ski & Snowboard School manager at Squaw/Alpine is coordinating an equipment drive with its employees to replace the 20 or so sets of skis and boards belonging to instructors that were lost in the fire. Furtney has also asked for a list of boot sizes to help find replacements.
“People have been reaching out with cash donations,” Furtney said, adding that the community has been willing to help in any way possible.
Continuing their support, Squaw re-routed their free Friday breakfast sandwiches for employees to Homewood. Together, the resort staff quickly modified the plan and delivered 250 breakfast sandwiches to Homewood at 7 a.m. on Dec. 30. To guarantee they brought enough food, Tiffany Swan, executive chef at Squaw/Alpine, came to work at 4 a.m. to make extra sandos.
“I think their entire team came,” Mike DeGroff, vice president of Resort Services at Squaw/Alpine, said of the response at Homewood. “When you think of the community aspect of Tahoe, I’m not surprised. That’s the way it is when you work in the mountains.”
The Tahoe Maritime Museum also reached out to Homewood, opening up vacant office space to temporarily house administrative offices.
Homewood is returning the favor(s) with a community appreciation day on Jan. 22., offering free tickets to first responders and 50 percent off tickets for their families, free continental breakfast, and live music from Ben Fuller and Jeff Jones. All proceeds will be donated back to North Tahoe Fire.
