NU skate park damaged in fire

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--Sunday's skate park fire was a small blaze that evidently did big damage.

City parks and recreation director Dave Bechtold said preliminary estimates put the damage at about $24,000.

The fire burned three of the jumps inside the park Sunday afternoon. The park opened last summer amid some controversy over its location, funding and whether or not the city really wanted it at all. The park opened to wide acclaim.

"It's too bad that someone had to ruin it for us," Bechtold said.

Firefighters spent about 10 minutes extinguishing the fire. Fire Chief Curt Curry said the New Ulm Fire Department has not determined the cause of the fire yet but is confident that it was set intentionally. He said both the fire department and police are investigating the fire.

"We're sure it was a set fire, but we're unsure of how it started," Curry said.

Investigator Doug Wiesner of the New Ulm Police Department said police have not made any headway in the investigation.

In the meantime, the city is going to remove the three burnt jumps from the park and Bechtold said the city's insurance company is going to give a cost estimate soon. Like Curry and Wiesner, Becthold said the blaze was intentionally set but he was not sure about who set in, when it was set or why.

Police are asking anyone who has information about the fire to call (507) 233-6750.