Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Alaska State Troopers arrested a 22-year-old Fairbanks man in connection with the fire that destroyed the old Cleary Summit Ski Area lodge Tuesday.

Justin R. Lambert, 22, was arrested at the scene of the fire at 21 Mile Steese Highway around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday when he returned to extract his pickup truck from a snow berm next to the lodge as troopers were investigating the fire.

“He showed up at the scene to get the truck out of there, and he had some burnt clothing and a heavy odor of smoke on his person,” said Sgt. Brian Wassmann with the Fairbanks trooper detachment.

Though his socks were singed and his shoes had burn holes in them, Lambert denied having anything to do with the fire that destroyed the deserted 7,000-square-foot lodge, which has been closed for 15 years.

“He was uncooperative, but the physical evidence suggests he was involved in some way or another,” said Wassmann.

Lambert was charged with first-degree vehicle theft and first-degree burglary for allegedly stealing a pickup truck from a garage at 16.5 Mile Steese Highway, evidently after he got his truck stuck in the snow near the lodge Monday night.

Troopers had impounded the stolen vehicle after getting a call at 4:30 a.m. that it was creating a traffic hazard because it was stuck at the end of the driveway.

Troopers realized the vehicle had been stolen about four hours later, when they received a report that a truck had been stolen from a garage at 16.5 Mile. As a trooper was investigating the vehicle theft, the call about the Cleary Summit ski lodge fire came in around 9:30 a.m.

When he responded to the fire, the trooper discovered Lambert’s unoccupied 1979 GMC pickup in a snow berm near the lodge.

Lambert appeared at approximately 10:30 a.m. to retrieve his truck and was contacted by troopers. Lambert told troopers he had lost control of his vehicle around 11 p.m. the night before and spent the night outside next to a garage at a home on Ridge Run Lane off Fairbanks Creek Road. However, Lambert was unable to show troopers any tracks or a location where he had bedded down.

The trooper who investigated the stolen truck incident before responding to the fire noted that the treads on Lambert’s athletic shoes matched the prints leading to the garage at 16.5 Mile, leading troopers to believe he was responsible for the vehicle theft.

Troopers are trying to determine if Lambert intentionally set fire to the lodge, Wassmann said.

“We’re investigating the fire as a possible arson,” he said. “We don’t know if he went in there and torched the place.

“If he went in there to warm up and started a fire (in the woodstove) and it started a chimney fire, that’s not necessarily intentional. You have to intentionally burn a structure down.”

Lambert did not provide troopers with an explanation for the strong smell of smoke on him or his burnt clothes.

The whole thing “looks weird,” Wassmann said.

Lambert is being held at the Fairbanks Correctional Center on $10,000 bail. He was also charged with driving with a revoked license.

Anyone who may have inadvertently given Lambert a ride to the garage or back to his vehicle where it was stuck on Monday night or Tuesday morning is asked to call troopers, Wassmann said.

“If someone gave him a ride or helped him out, we’d really be interested in knowing about that,” he said.

Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.