A historic West Hartford country club celebrating its centennial year is destroyed after two fires in two days.
Firefighters arrived to the Wampanoag Country Club just after 2:20 a.m. on Sunday and found heavy fire coming through the roof of the same building that had been on fire just 24 hours earlier on Saturday morning.
According to fire officials, the building had already partially collapsed and the deputy chief ordered a defensive attack from the exterior of the building.
"Obviously, we're very saddened at the loss of our clubhouse. And we're just incredibly grateful that no one's been injured. Wampanoag Country Club has been around for 100 years. We're celebrating our centennial this year," said Glenn Cunningham, the president of the Wampanoag Country Club.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
The majority of the building was destroyed Sunday morning's fire, according to fire officials. The golf course was not impacted.
"And a club is not a clubhouse. It's not a facility. It's not even an award winning golf course, which is untouched. It's the people, it's the members and it's the staff. And we will come back, we will build stronger, but it's about the people at the end," Cunningham added.
Local
"It's a tragic event, but as our president said yesterday, the building isn't the club. The club is the membership. We've got a strong membership and we'll be back. We'll be back, but it's unfortunate it's our centennial year," said Hal Smullen, of West Hartford.
"I grew up here being a member. We had so many great times here. We got married here in 1986," said Hal's wife Mary. "We've been members since 1988 so we have a long history here," Hal added.
Cunningham said the community has stepped up to help with events this weekend. A prom for Watkinson School that was supposed to be at the Wampanoag Country Club on Saturday was moved to Hop Meadow Country Club in Simsbury.
The Wampanoag Country Club is also working to coordinate and move weddings and other events that were scheduled to be at their facility.
"Two years ago, we had our 50th high school reunion right there and my neighbor is a member and to see it, it's it's really bad, sad. And they just spent a lot of money redoing the course about two years ago. A couple of million dollars I think they paid and they redid it. It was great and now I don't know what they're going to be doing," said Brian Cameron, who is originally from West Hartford.
Vehicles from contractors and generators related to restoration from Saturday's fire were still at the club during Sunday's fire, but fire officials said they did not believe anyone was inside. No one was injured in either fire.
When asked about two fires happening at the same place within two days, fire officials said it is unusual, but the investigation is active.
The second fire is being investigated by the West Hartford fire marshal, West Hartford police, and the Connecticut State Police Fire Explosion and Investigation Unit.
The Wampanoag Country Club is a private country club that was created in the 1920s.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
