ALLENSPARK — Fire ripped through the St. Malo Retreat Center on Monday, causing up to $1 million in damage to the 49-room lodge 12 miles south of Estes Park.
The historic Chapel on the Rock, blessed by Pope John Paul II during his 1993 visit to Denver for World Youth Day, was untouched.
Six members of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a religious order that operates the Catholic retreat center on behalf of the Archdiocese of Denver, and three maintinance workers were in the building when the fire broke out at 7:48 a.m. The order’s living quarters were destroyed.
“The six who lived there escaped with only the clothes they were wearing, so this is a reminder to all of us to be grateful for our immediate needs,” said Monsignor Thomas Fryar, the top administrative officer of the archdiocese. “We can add thanks that nobody was seriously hurt in this fire, and thanks for the men and women from the various fire districts who worked so hard to contain and extinguish it.”
More than 70 firefighters from 14 districts throughout Boulder County and beyond responded to the wind-fanned blaze, with crews assisting from as far away as Longmont and Lafayette.
Camera staff writers Erica Meltzer and Heath Urie and Longmont Times-Call photographer Richard M. Hackett contributed to this report.
