A fire broke out in the main building of Blue Mountain Christian Retreat in New Ringgold at about 2:45 a.m., completely destroying what the man who built it called "the heart of the retreat center."

No one was injured in the fire. West Penn Township Fire Co. No. 1 Chief Leroy Breiner said a young man staying in the center had gotten up to write in his journal when he heard a popping sound. He yelled for everyone to get out of the building, and called 911.At least 13 fire companies from Schuylkill and surrounding counties quickly converged on the site, on a slight rise in a wooded area off Blue Mountain Road, south of Route 895. The building was engulfed in flames when the first responders arrived on scene. At 7:30 a.m., they continued to spray water on the smoldering remains of the block, steel and wood building, which housed an auditorium, upstairs offices and a kitchen/dining room on the lower floor.Firefighters were able to save another building, which housed a gift shop and book store, about 20 feet away. Breiner said he has called a state fire marshal to determine the cause of the blaze, which he believes may have started on the west side of the building.Acrid white smoke hung over the charred, sodden ruins as Breiner and West Penn Fire Co. No. 1 firefighter Marty Baddick spoke with a reporter. Tanker trucks thrummed nearby, filling portable pools filled with water drawn from a pond on the retreat grounds, a dam in New Ringgold and from The Pines, a nearby manufactured home development.Breiner, who lives a few miles away, said he first understood it was an outbuilding that was burning, but quickly realized it was much bigger."I could see the glow as soon as I got out of my house," he said.Curtis J. Bailey, who built the original retreat in the early 1970s, learned of the blaze at about 5:30 a.m. when he switched on the morning news."It was a shock, heart breaking," he said. Bailey did all of the original construction on the retreat, and was good friends with founder Chris Dornbierer.The retreat, he said, "was a wonderful place for people to come." The retreat featured a non-denominational worship center that drew believers from Maryland, Washington, D.C., New York and other areas.The retreat was founded 36 years ago by Chris and his wife, the late Margaret Dornbierer, who had built a successful greenhouse business in New Jersey. Their purpose was to have a facility for people to come for a vacation in a Christian atmosphere.After purchasing 375 acres, the retreat opened its main building a conference center in 1974. It was established not as a church but for people from all denominations of the Christian faith to come together to hear speakers from throughout the world.The Dornbierer family built their home and their greenhouse business across the road from the retreat grounds. The complex had accommodations for 400 guests. The auditorium had a seating capacity for 450, while the cafeteria could seat 319 at one time.Each year in December, the retreat hosted a free Christmas dinner and program which was open to anyone in the community.The fire destroyed the offices, which housed all the retreat's records, Bailey said."Everything they needed to function," he said. "That building was the heart of the retreat center." Bailey said his thoughts and prayers are with Dornbierer, the staff and board members.On Thursday morning, the narrow rural roads that brought people to the retreat were awash with the flashing blue and red lights as more than a dozen fire trucks maneuvered to bring water and firefighters to the scene.Fire companies in addition to West Penn included Landingville, New Ringgold, Orwigsburg, Tamaqua, Lynnport, New Tripoli, Port Carbon, Deer Lake, Auburn, Pine Grove, Mount Carmel, Germansville and Lewellyn. Ambulances arrived from Tamaqua and Lehighton.The Tamaqua Burger King donated breakfast sandwiches to the firefighters as well. Volunteers from the Schuylkill and Northumberland Chapter of the American Red Cross were on scene providing snacks and refreshment to all the firefighters.(TIMES NEWS staffer Jim Zbick and correspondents Larry Neff and Andrew Leibenguth contributed to this story.)