THE Cresta Valley Lodge at Mt Buffalo, formerly known as Tatra Inn, was destroyed in the North East bushfires yesterday in another crippling blow for Alpine Shire.
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The ski lodge which consisted of the Cresta Day Visitor Centre, a restaurant and motel were all burnt with firefighting personnel on Mt Buffalo bolstered to protect other major assets including Mt Buffalo Chalet.
Cresta Valley and Mt Buffalo Chalet are owned by the Burbank Group of Companies which was “absolutely devastated” by the loss of the lodge which recently underwent a $1.7 million facelift after being built in the 1980s.
The Mt Buffalo Resort is operated by step-brothers Eddie Sanfilippo and Eddie Puhar and it was too early to say whether Cresta Lodge would be rebuilt.
“We are absolutely devastated by the news,” Burbank spokeswoman Jacqueline McLeish said last night.
“But we are happy and relieved to hear that there was absolutely no loss of life or injury to staff, guests and emergency services.
“That was the paramount concern.”
The fire, which was contained to the lodge area with no damage to the ski lifts and Dingo Dell ski fields, is burning on the southern end of the Mt Buffalo National Park and on the southern slopes adjacent to the Buffalo River and Buckland Valley.
Department of Sustainability and Environment incident controller Rob Caddell said the Cresta Lodge blaze had taken the department by surprise and fire investigations personnel were dispatched last night.
“The DSE personnel we had there didn’t have structural firefighting experience so they were unable to save the building,” he said.
“We thought we had it covered.
“But we’ve put some structural firefighters up there for the duration of the fire threat and they are going to stay at the chalet.”
Alpine Shire chief executive officer John Dixon said a 14-member strike team and three additional tankers were sent to Mt Buffalo last night.
“It’s a sad day and is probably our first major asset loss in our shire,” Mr Dixon said.
“The tourism industry has shown great resistance in the past and we are a very strong community in Alpine and we will bounce back.
“We are putting a lot of resources into protecting the chalet because we regard it as a national icon.
“It’s not under threat at the moment, but the fact we’ve got a strike team up there I think indicates we are really keen on protecting that chalet from any damage.”
