Thick, black smoke filling the air in the vicinity of where the Flynn House, in Conneaut Lake Park once stood, resulted in a 911 call and led to the incident being a topic of the Summit Township Supervisors during the supervisor’s September meeting.

This came to light when Summit Fire Marshall, Pete Albaugh, gave his report to the board.

Several members of the department were on hand as well because they had just finished up their monthly safety meeting, which is held directly before the monthly gathering of the minds.

Albaugh and Fire Chief Gig King, both brought the subject to the attention of supervisors. Some area residents had reported the smoke and by the time Summit arrived, the fire was pretty much under control.

According to members of the VFD, there was evidence of construction materials at the site of the fire. It was also stated that there appeared to be tire tracks that ran over the region of the old Flynn house foundation, which indicated that a vehicle had been used in order to transport the items that had been incinerated.

Because the area in question is in the range of the McClure house and construction items are currently being used to revamp that structure, some red flags went off, for firefighters.

Albaugh said he approached a Conneaut Lake Park Board of Trustees official who told him that any burning that went on on behalf of their group took place in the Sadsbury Township portion of the park, in a space designated for such. The official indicated that it was, more than likely, someone from Park Restoration, since they are the ones leasing the McClure house.

There are three separate entities at the park.

The Board of Trustees, Lisko Entertainment and Park Restoration. The latter is the group that has leased portions of the park including the Hotel Conneaut, The Beach Club, the McClure House and the Dockside.

The bottom line for that particular issue was that Albaugh sent a letter to the Board of Trustees and sent a copy of that letter to the Park Restoration group as well.

When asked to comment about the fire, Greg Sutterlin, of Park Restoration, said that it had been cardboard that was being burned and was not construction materials from the McClure House project.

The mention of the McClure property brought up another topic at the meeting because it is slated for use during an upcoming park event later on this fall.

The house is condemned, which puts a whole new spin on using it for a haunted house that the public would be walking through.

Summit Solicitor William Walker said that he had spoken with Greg Sutterlin about that very thing and “reinforced with him that that building was not to be used for anything...”

Walker imparted to those in attendance what Sutterlin told him in terms of the repairs being undertaken.

A 2002 list of reasons for condemning the building included a porch that was falling in and a faulty foundation. Walker said that he was told that the porch had been torn off since then. Also, wiring and electrical work were mentioned as two other reasons for condemning the structure.

According to Walker, Park officials were told that the foundation and the electrical need to be inspected by MDIA, (Middle Department Inspection Agency). Walker pointed out that those inspections would be done by MDIA as a part of their regular construction work inspections.

“I also told him that, obviously, if this is going to become some type of private residence, that’s one thing but, if it’s gonna become some type of a public building, then he better be making sure that he’s dealing with Labor and Industry...”

He continued by explaining that Labor and Industry would be the ones to decide if things were moving along in the correct manner, so to speak.

Walker said that they had been warned, in terms of getting the appropriate permits, etc. and Sutterlin said he would be following the proper protocol.