Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Loses Two Buildings to Suspicious Fires

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms have been called in to help National Park Service rangers determine the cause of fires that burned down two unoccupied buildings at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

NRA Superintendent John Donahue said the fires were spotted just about 10 a.m. this morning by a visitor who called the park’s 24-hour emergency communications center and reported seeing flames and smoke along the river on the New Jersey side of the park.

Park Service firefighters and engines from the from Blairstown Fire Department arrived on the scene at 10:30 a.m. and found the smoldering remains of two structures, a barn and a house. The structures were located just south of Turtle Beach, near the historic Coppermine Inn on Old Mine Road, park officials said.

Neither the Turtle Beach facility nor the Coppermine Inn was damaged and Turtle Beach remains open to the public.