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MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (AP) — A fire that destroyed a boathouse has left a private rowing team and two Pittsburgh-area high school crew teams without boats to row.
The fire that destroyed the Groveton Boat Club storage building in Robinson Township on Saturday night remains under investigation, though authorities said it appears someone broke into a shed that housed propane tanks just before the fire was reported about 11 p.m.
The private Pittsburgh Rowing Club and crew teams at North Allegheny and Pine-Richland high schools lost boats, oars, life jackets and other equipment.
Nobody was hurt, but the fire destroyed dozens of sculls — row boats that hold between one and nine rowers and can cost up to $30,000 each.
Pittsburgh Rowing Club director Robert Catanzarite said his group lost about $200,000 worth of equipment but was insured.
The school teams rely more on private donations to booster organizations and might not be so fortunate. Because crew is a club sport at each school, it receives little funding from those school districts.
"This is an utter devastation to our program," said Jordan Herbert, coach of North Allegheny's team. "We have to start from literally the bottom up."
Drew Lesniak, a board member on that club, said he hopes the group can raise enough money to replace the boats by the time the rowing season begins in April.
Ellen Fowkes, president of the Pine-Richland team, said it lost about 15 boats in the fire, roughly the same as the other teams.
"Right now, we have no boats to go in the water. It is a huge, monumental loss," Fowkes said. "Hopefully, we'll have time to call all the people in the local boating community for help."
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