Explosion destroys Indiana resort

BRYANT, Ind. -- Explosions and a resulting fire destroyed a restaurant at an eastern Indiana resort Thursday, causing more than $1 million in estimated damages but no injuries.\nNo customers were inside the Homestead Restaurant at Bearcreek Farms at the time of the blasts, shortly before 10 a.m., Carla Green, the resort's general manager, told The Commercial Review of Portland.\nTwo explosions in the restaurant's kitchen apparently were caused by a leak in a natural gas line, fire officials said.\nThe building, which opened in 1999, also housed a gift shop, a banquet room and the reservations and lodging check-in center for the resort about 35 miles south of Fort Wayne.\nThe restaurant and resort had been open on a limited basis and were scheduled to fully open for the season March 6.\nTwo workers were repairing a steam table when two explosions and a resulting fire forced 12 people to leave the building, Green said.\n"There were two large booms, and they said, 'Clear the building,"' Green said.\nNo injuries to workers or to firefighters from several departments were reported. The building was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.\nThe loss was expected to exceed $1 million. The building was fully insured, said Don Strong, owner of Bearcreek Farms.\n"We're going to build the restaurant back up in the same place and exactly how it was," he said.\nBearcreek Farms has been in business for more than 25 years.