By GEOFF CUNNINGHAM Jr.

Staff Writer

ALTON — Deb Berlin and Stan Everson stood on Back Bay Path on Tuesday starring with disbelief at the smoldering mess that was once their lakeside family retreats at the Alton Bay Christian Conference Center.

"All night I kept dreaming that they (the firefighters) were wrong and that I’d come around this corner and see it ... but no," said Berlin, as she peered down at the slouching mass of charred wood and twisted medal.

Berlin, 61, of Hampstead was visiting her mother in Pennsylvania on Monday when a four-alarm blaze ripped through the tightly packed cottage community.

Fire officials are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire, which is believed to have begun at Everson’s cottage at 2 Back Bay Path.

The blaze was reported just before 5 a.m. and substantially damaged four cottages at the Alton Bay Christian Center — a non-denominational community that sits off Route 11.

Firefighters arrived at the scene on Monday to find three lakeside cottages completely ablaze with a fourth soon to go up.

High winds are said to have fanned the fire and caused it to spread rapidly in the cluster of cottages that were only feet apart from each other.

Crews from 14 area departments were summoned to the scene, which was further complicated by its location on narrow roads and a steep hillside.

Despite gusting wind that threatened several other buildings, firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze by drawing water from the lake and hydrants located about 1,200 feet away, along Route 11.

The fire ended up completely leveling two cottages and seriously damaging two others.

The units owned by Berlin and Emerson bore the most damage and were nearly completely consumed by the fire. The fire completely wiped out the cottages that were on one side of the small back-bay area leaving a black mass that stretched down to the edge of the water.

On Tuesday the owners returned to the scene to find what had once been two and three story cottages to be smoldering piles of charred wood and metal debris.

Both Everson and Berlin agreed that their first reaction was one of relief.

"Nobody was hurt and that’s really the most important ... things can be replaced," said Berlin.

Berlin has owned the cottage at 3 Back Bay Path for 25 years.

She, her three children and her six grandchildren use the property primarily during the summertime months.

"There are a lot of memories up here and we really put a lot of work into the place," she said.

On Tuesday Berlin and Beth Papia, her daughter, picked through the debris of the flattened mess.

An emotionally drained Berlin likened the experience to returning to a destroyed home following a forest-fire.

"I’m just amazed. You really don’t understand what its going to be like," she said.

Berlin said she was lucky not to have been in the cottage during the fire as she takes her hearing-aid device out before going to bed. Her daughter said she likely would not have been alerted by a smoke detector or even the sound of rescuers.

Tuesday’s return to the scene did produce some good news as the pair were able to find an intact photo album.

However, they said the loss of the cottage was a big blow to a family that has made it their second home for years.

"I was planning on retiring in five years and living up here for a few months a year," said Berlin.

Everson, a resident of Spencer, Mass., had just closed his cottage up for the season over the weekend. He returned only a day later to find it reduced to only a chimney.

The husband and father said he was sorry to lose a property he has been using and renting for 4 years.

"This was really a dream to have a little cottage on the water," said Everson.

The owners of the cottage said only one of the homes damaged in the blaze was used as a primary residence.

Both said they are unsure as to whether they will attempt to rebuild their cottages due, in part, to regulation that restrict how close they can be to one another.

A fire in 1945 destroyed 230 cottages and other buildings at the center.

Investigators with the state Fire Marshall’s Office are working with local authorities to try and determine what sparked Monday’s blaze.