INTERVIEW: Fire Chief Calls Fire At Bruce Willis’ Idaho Estate “Accidental”
Mar. 31 2009, Published 8:40 a.m. ET
It was like a scene from Die Hard – only this time it was real - as fifty-foot flames shot up from Bruce Willis’ winter lodge and adjacent ski shop at Soldier Mountain, Idaho.
Within minutes the flames had reduced both structures to crumbling shells as local firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze.
Local fire chief Wayne Marolf told RadarOnline that preliminary investigations indicated that the cause of the fire was “electrical” and it was being treated as an “accident”.
"When we first arrived the smoke and box smoke were bailing out of the north lodge, the north end of the rental shop was engulfed, it was rolling off the roof line," said firefighter Shaun Stewart to a local news station. "The only thing I could do was put water onto the building that hadn't been engulfed in flames yet, and try to cool down the flames coming out."
Willis had visited the 50-year-old lodge several times. Both he and ex-wife, Demi Moore, own several properties in the adjacent town of Hailey, Idaho, which is 45 minutes drive from the accident scene. (Photo: KTVB.com)