MARSDEN – A popular destination for youth in the summer months have experienced a heartbreaking loss of one building and extreme damage to another after a fire broke out in the evening of Nov. 5.
Manitou Lake Bible Camp received word that their dining hall was on fire and firefighters from Manitou Lake Fire and Rescue and Neilburg Fire Department were on scene trying to extinguish the flames. The dining hall, which also housed a full kitchen and camp offices, did not survive the fire. Firefighters tried to stop the fire from spreading, and camp officials believed the new bunkhouse only sustained minor damage.
It was later through the night that the newer bunkhouse building also caught fire and sustained significant damage. The bunkhouse was a new addition to the camp this past summer.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
The camp has been operational since 1940. It started out on a farmyard near the community of Marsden. Bible school students would set up ‘camp’ in the yard, sleep in empty grain bins and cook out of a machine shop.
Manitou Lake Bible Camp is located in the lake valley between Marsden and Neilburg, south of Highway 40.
More information about the fire and how the camp is dealing with the loss will be available soon.
