Irene destroys BCAF's Lambertville location

[damianip]

A flood from a creek behind the Bucks County Academy of Fencing's Lambertville facility (and, oddly, not the Delaware river) caved in a wall and filled the club with over 3 feet of water before blowing out the rear doors and draining into the rear parking lot.

The floor was lifted and destroyed and much of the equipment inside washed away.

Luckily no one was injured, but rebuilding is going to put them "offline" for quite a while.

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[Peach]

Oh, dear, how awful. I just injured my hand, or I'd volunteer to drive up and clear things out, though I'm sure you're not even ready to get started on that. Keep me in mind in a couple of weekends.

Darn. Such a nice facility, too.

A flood from a creek behind the Bucks County Academy of Fencing's Lambertville facility (and, oddly, not the Delaware river) caved in a wall and filled the club with over 3 feet of water before blowing out the rear doors and draining into the rear parking lot.

The floor was lifted and destroyed and much of the equipment inside washed away.

Luckily no one was injured, but rebuilding is going to put them "offline" for quite a while.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

[fdad]

A flood from a creek behind the Bucks County Academy of Fencing's Lambertville facility (and, oddly, not the Delaware river) caved in a wall and filled the club with over 3 feet of water before blowing out the rear doors and draining into the rear parking lot.

The floor was lifted and destroyed and much of the equipment inside washed away.

Luckily no one was injured, but rebuilding is going to put them "offline" for quite a while.

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What a shame. That was a beautiful location.

[telkanuru]

What a shame. That was a beautiful location.

It seems that was part of the problem.

[Goldgar]

All you folks who've registered for our epee competition on Sunday, please don't panic. We are planning to relocate to our BCAF-West location -- we've got the scoring boxes, just looking to scrounge up some more reels. We'll keep you posted.

Rest assured, we'll let you know if we will *not* be holding the competition. For now at least, it's still on, just in a new venue.

--
Dirk Goldgar
Debbie Bratsko (tournament coordinator)
Bucks County Academy of Fencing

[catwood1]

Oh man, I'm very sorry to hear that. Hopefully the guys at BCAF rebound from this well...

[Mac A. Bee]

I urge all who've enjoyed BCAF-Lambertville to do so as well.

[jeremyb215]

All you folks who've registered for our epee competition on Sunday, please don't panic. We are planning to relocate to our BCAF-West location -- we've got the scoring boxes, just looking to scrounge up some more reels. We'll keep you posted.

Rest assured, we'll let you know if we will *not* be holding the competition. For now at least, it's still on, just in a new venue.

--
Dirk Goldgar
Debbie Bratsko (tournament coordinator)
Bucks County Academy of Fencing

I looked at some pics of the facility last night. It looks like a great place. Have you set up a fund to assist in paying for repairs?

[prototoast]

I looked at some pics of the facility last night. It looks like a great place. Have you set up a fund to assist in paying for repairs?

Ideally they had insurance.

[jeremyb215]

Ideally they had insurance.

One would hope they do. I was asking "just in case".

[ladyofshalott99]

Motion to start a donations collection for replacement practice gear for this club.

[jeremyb215]

Motion to start a donations collection for replacement practice gear for this club.

Seconded.

[qatet]

Last night, Coryell Creek, which runs down from the mountain from across the street of the academy, was running overly high. The water, passing under the back room of the academy, rose to the point where it impacted the wall in front of my back workbench. The pressure from the water imploded the wall with great force, and a torrent of water entered the academy from the back rooms and proceeded t...o fill the ENTIRE 10,000 sq. ft. - back rooms, Great Hall and South Hall - like a bathtub. The water rose to about 3 feet, at which point the hydrostatic pressure blew out parts of the back wall and back doors, and the torrent flowed out into the back parking lot. We found the 300 lb vending machine in the canal.
As you can see from the pictures, the destruction is devastating to say the least. We asking your help in finding a temporary location to run classes and will be up and running at some capacity as soon as possible.

Our landlord has flood insurance that will cover the building structure. We are thankful no one was hurt in this violent incident.

We will be trying to do some clean up this coming week & should be able to salvage most of the masks, foils, & jackets (all need a good washing).

Most of Lambertville is still without phone service/power & our home office is as well, so communication will be difficult the coming week. We will hopefully be able to check email once a day at a remote location.

Please feel free to share this information as you never know where a solution may present itself.

You patience and support during this most difficult time is very much appreciated.

Hope to be in touch soon,
Mark & Lisa

The photos on fb are just awful. You can see them here: http://www.buckshappening.com/hurric...ne-destruction. For any of you involved with BCAF in a more official capacity, please let us know if there's anything your friends can do to help you out!

Kate Thomas

[qatet]

duplicate post

[Goldgar]

All you folks who've registered for our epee competition on Sunday, please don't panic. We are planning to relocate to our BCAF-West location -- we've got the scoring boxes, just looking to scrounge up some more reels. We'll keep you posted.

Rest assured, we'll let you know if we will *not* be holding the competition. For now at least, it's still on, just in a new venue.

Medeo Fencing Club in Bridgewater, NJ, has graciously offered their venue for the event, which is now being run as a benefit for BCAF, and re-christened the "Help Restore BCAF Mixed Epee Open".

Details on AskFred are here,
current entrants are here,
and you can register here.

So the game is still afoot, just in Bridgewater, thanks to the generous folks at Medeo Fencing Club.

[Goldgar]

Motion to start a donations collection for replacement practice gear for this club.

Seconded.

Thank you both. We think we can recover most of our practice equipment from the wreckage, so your generosity in this area may not be needed. Due to concerns about the building's structural integrity, we aren't allowed into the building yet to see what we can recover/recondition. So I can't be sure what we do and don't need, but it's probably best if you hold off a little until we see where we stand. Your kindness is very much appreciated.

[Goldgar]

For any of you involved with BCAF in a more official capacity, please let us know if there's anything your friends can do to help you out!

Thanks, Kate. Our biggest problem is likely to be finding a venue to resume classes while the building is being repaired. Aside from that, which I don't think anyone can really help with, we don't know yet what kind of help we might need, but trust me, we'll take it with gratitude when we do.

Dirk

[jkormann]

Medeo's offer is awesome. Would a strict donation be welcome. Mainly because I cannot make the tourney this weekend. Pesky family, they keep finding me...

[Pittcanna]

This is horrible i fence at the bcaf west (hatfield location). I hope lambertville is back on line in no time.

[fdad]

I was going to suggest just registering for the event even if you cant make it as a donation, but I think they've capped the number of entries. Perhaps they can add a Mixed Open Non-Fencing event?