GUILDERLAND — Like the phoenix, the pool house at Tawasentha Park will rise from the ashes.

“I feel confident we can construct a new building,” said Guilderland’s supervisor, Kenneth Runion, on Monday.

No one was injured in the June 21 blaze, and the fire was contained to the pool house. The 200 sprawling verdant acres of lawn and woods that make up the rest of the park off of Route 146, a half-mile south of Route 20 in Guilderland, were unscathed.

On Sunday morning at 4:10 a.m., the fire call went out, said Scott Jill, assistant chief of the Guilderland Fire Department and one of many fathers who battled the blaze in the wee hours of Father’s Day.

His department was the first to respond to the blaze and was joined by the Westmere and North Bethlehem departments. Fort Hunter stood by at the Guilderland firehouse, and McKownville stood by at the Westmere firehouse in case another call should come in; none did.

“The pool house was fully engulfed,” said Jill, when the firefighters arrived on the scene. “It was an aerial operation,” he said; two ladder trucks used water from a park hydrant to douse the flames. “There are nozzles at the top of the ladder truck,” said Jill.  “We got above the trees that way, and shot down."

No trees and no other structures were burned. The Western Turnpike Rescue Squad and Colonie EMS were both on the scene.

“We were able to knock down the fire in a half hour or 45 minutes,” said Jill. “The building was a complete loss.” Fire departments were at the scene until about 7:30 a.m. “I got back to my house at quarter to nine,” he said. “We made sure everything was extinguished.”

Fire investigators were on the scene, said Jill. Asked if it looked like arson, Jill said, “Sometimes there are hints about that. In this case, I couldn’t say.”

Captain Curtis Cox with the Guilderland Police said the New York Office of Fire Prevention and Control is the lead agency investigating the case. “It’s routine to determine the cause and origin,” said Cox.

Jill concluded, “It’s a shame about the structure but we are very, very fortunate there was no other damage — to the trees or anything — and nobody, either the public or firefighters, was hurt.”

Looking backward and forward

The town of Guilderland purchased the swimming pool with its pool house nearly a half-century ago, Runion said. “It was Durfees’ Amusement Park. When the town bought the land and the pool, there were children’s rides there,” said Runion.

Guilderland opened the park to the public in 1969. The park now includes tennis and basketball courts, hiking trails, picnic pavilions, a baseball field, a performing arts center, and areas for playing shuffleboard and horseshoes. Residents can park there for free and people who live outside of Guilderland pay $10 to park a car.

The park was closed on Monday as power was being restored. The source of power for the park’s pavilions as well as for the performing arts center and the streetlamps was in the pool house, Runion said.

On Tuesday, Runion said a shed was being delivered to the park for electrical power and a second shed would be used as an entrance booth. Except for the pool area and the performing arts center, the rest of the park re-opened on Tuesday.

The town’s free summer concert series starts June 25, with a performance by the Guilderland Town Band. That concert will be held at Farnsworth Middle School instead of at Tawasentha Park.

“We had to make a quick decision,” Runion said on Tuesday. “We only have one bathroom there, and it’s not handicapped accessible.”

The rest of the summer concert series will take place at the performing arts center in the park, as planned, Runion said.

Also on Tuesday, the town secured a portable bathroom unit, with two toilets for men and two for women. The day before, Runion had said such units were hard to locate on such short notice.

“We found one,” he said on Tuesday afternoon. “I just signed the purchase order a couple of minutes ago.” The unit is to be delivered on June 30.

The town will pay $795 each week for the unit, and town workers will also install outdoor showers “like what you see on the beach,” Runion said. A separate facility that is handicapped accessible will also be rented, he added.

“We expect to re-open around July 1,” said Runion. “A lot hinges on Albany County Health Department approval. They’re coming out tomorrow to look at the pool and our plan for facilities,” Runion said on Tuesday.

While the main pool was undamaged and could be up and running soon, Runion said, the “kiddy pool” would not be able to open as quickly since the pump, filter, and chlorination system for it were in the pool house.

The town’s annual swimming-lesson program was scheduled to start the last week of June. “We don’t have much time,” Runion said.

He said the lessons would go on, in one way or another. “We’re talking about an arrangement with the Pinehaven Country Club, using the morning for summer swim lessons, till noon,” he said of the club located off of Siver Road in Guilderland.

The other idea is to teach the lessons at the town pool, as planned, and to rent portable toilets and changing rooms, said Runion, although, since they weren’t reserved ahead, the units may be difficult to secure. “They’re tough to locate,” he said.

The long-term plan, Runion said, is to replace the pool house. “People may be worried, with municipalities hurting for funds, that we’ll just let the pool go,” said Runion. He noted nearby cities and the state at Thacher Park in the Helderbergs have closed public pools in recent years.

“We’re going to rebuild,” Runion promised.

This will be possible financially, he said, because the town has blanket coverage through Selective Insurance. “It’s up to $43 million for all the buildings together,” he said of Guilderland’s insurance policy.

The current coverage, he said, will pay to replace the original building, to the same size and dimensions, and everything in it.

“We also have parkland funds,” he said, explaining that developers are required to pay a fee into the fund for every residential building in town.

In 2007, the town considered expanding the pool house. “But then the economy tanked in 2009,” said Runion, and the plans were scrapped. “We knew the building was old, and it cost money to do yearly repairs. It was just outdated.” He estimated that plan would have cost $300,000 to $350,000.

Runion said on Monday that an electrical contractor was contacted to restore electricity to the park and the town had already been in contact with Albany County, which does pool inspections, about what is needed to re-open the pool.

“We’re trying to get things back to a normal and workable level as soon as possible,” said Runion.

He surmised that it will take the summer months to go through the bidding process to build a new pool house so temporary trailers would need to be used this season to keep the pool open to the public. But, Runion said, if building starts in the fall, a new pool house should be ready for next summer.

“People can rest assured we will replace it,” said Runion, who is not running for re-election in the fall. “It’s important. We’re trying to work as quickly as we can to get this up and running....I will feel good, knowing it will be done.”

Updated on June 23, 2015, to include comments from Supervisor Kenneth Runion about how the town was keeping the pool and park operating, with the ordering of temporary sheds and bathrooms.