Photo: Liberty Fire Department
A building at the closed hotel in the Catskill mountains that inspired the film Dirty Dancing was destroyed in a massive fire earlier this week, NBC News reported Saturday (August 20).
The Liberty Fire Department said it responded to multiple reports of an unknown type fire at the Grossinger's Catskill Hotel property, which has been closed since 1986, on Tuesday (August 16) in a post shared on its Facebook account.
"Firefighters were additionally hampered due to the property being overgrown and concrete barriers on the roadway which prevented apparatus being able to quickly turn around," Liberty Fire Chief Mark Johnstone said in the Facebook post.
The department said it battled the fire for several hours before it was contained.
"At the request of Town of Liberty Code Enforcement, an excavator was brought into the scene to knock down the structure once the fire was out," Johnstone said. "The cause of the Fire is currently under investigation by the NYSP and Sullivan County Bureau of Fire."
The Grossinger's Hotel was previously a popular getaway spot, located in the Catskill mountains town of Liberty -- less than two hours away of New York City -- but closed due to financial issues.
Dirty Dancing screenwriter Elenor Bergstein has cited the area as an inspiration for the film, having spent many trips at Grossinger's while growing up, NBC News reports.
The movie was, however, filmed in North Carolina and Virginia.