DENVER (Reuters) ? A wind-swept fire tore through a landmark Catholic retreat in the Colorado mountains on Monday, heavily damaging the site where Pope John Paul II spent an afternoon in 1993 while attending World Youth Day in Denver.
The blaze erupted in a three-story lodge at Camp St. Malo in Allenspark, Colorado, and destroyed a conference room, kitchen and workers' residences, Commander Rick Brough of the Boulder County Sheriff's Office told Reuters.
"There's at least a million dollars in damage if not more," Brough said.
No injuries were reported, he said, and a firewall prevented flames from reaching a wing of the lodge that houses guests, though none were staying there because of a power outage caused by high winds over the weekend.
Brough said 70 firefighters battled the flames, and water had to be trucked to the scene in tankers.
The cause of the blaze was under investigation, but Brough said workers had been using the lodge's fireplace for heat due to the power outage.
Built in the 1930s at the foot of Mt. Meeker, 65 miles northwest of Denver, the 160-acre site was a children's summer camp for decades. The facility now hosts spiritual retreats for Catholics and other religious groups.
In 1993, Pope John Paul II spent an afternoon resting at the lodge and strolling the grounds when he attended World Youth Day, a gathering held at various locations every three years.
An iconic stone chapel, built on an outcropping east of the main building, was not damaged by the blaze.
A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Denver, which owns an operates the facility, said six people who live full time at the center lost all their belongings.
Wind gusts up to 100 miles per hour buffeted the area over the weekend. In adjacent Rocky Mountain National Park, winds uprooted numerous trees, including large ponderosa pines, a park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said.
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)
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