Quaaout Lodge & Talking Rock Resort

Despite an extremely dangerous structural fire, heavy debris, and significant direct impact, Enviroshake exceeded expectations on numerous occasions for the Quaaout Lodge & Talking Rock Golf Resort in Chase, British Columbia.

A 100% Indigenous owned and operated resort, the Quaaout Lodge is the pride of the Little Shuswap Lake Band. This lakefront property provides a range of experiences based in a beautiful natural setting and steeped in Secwepemc culture. The award-winning 18-hole championship golf course is ranked within the top 100 courses in Canada by Score Golf. The resort also includes a restaurant, day-spa, conference facility, and a 70-room hotel.

In the winter of 2015/2016, the cedar shake sections covering the hotel lobby and restaurant were replaced with Enviroshake by Factory Trained Installers, Advantage Roofing Ltd. Enviroshake was chosen for its aesthetics, longevity, and most importantly, fire resistance.

In May 2022, the hotel experienced a devastating structural fire that resulted in the loss of the entire guest room wing.

Photo credits: Enviroshake Regional Sales Manager, Glen Rowley

We spoke with Director of Operations & Facilities, Rhys Laug, to hear more about the damages they experienced at the resort earlier this year and how the adjacent Enviroshake roof performed throughout the incident:

We were fortunate on the day of the fire that the weather conditions were relatively calm, limiting the blowing of embers away from the main fire. We had a major concern about the conference centre roof which still has the aging cedar shake sections. Ensuring this section of the building was kept wet was a real concern for the fire response.

Due to the incredible efforts of our Fire Departments, the structural loss was limited to just the hotel rooms wing, saving the main lobby, restaurant, spa, and conference centre.

The lobby section of the building was directly adjacent to the burning guest wing, separated by a concrete block firewall. Had the lobby and restaurant shake roofs not been replaced with Enviroshake there is a very high probability that we could have lost the entire building complex if embers or radiant heat had ignited wood shake.

Though separated from the active fire, embers, ash, and debris did fall on the Enviroshake roof, but no signs of burning have been observed on the shake. Following the fire there have been occasions during windstorms that debris such as metal flashing has blown free of the fire impacted ruins and landed on the Enviroshake roof without damaging the tiles.

While a demolition crew was removing the dangerous wall section a few weeks later, there was a section of 2-3 blocks that fell from a height of about 20ft directly onto the Enviroshake. The blocks bounced off the shake but left no damage to the roof other than some very minor cosmetic scuffing of the shakes that took the initial hit. Having personally witnessed the incident, I was extremely impressed with how the Enviroshake held up to the significant impact.

We have recently contracted Advantage Roofing Ltd. to replace the remaining cedar shake sections of roofing on our conference centre with the same Enviroshake product. As a rural property located in a region subject to wildfires, the Enviroshake is a brilliant fire-smart product with great curb appeal and long service-life.

Rhys Laug

Director of Operations & Facilities

Quaaout Lodge at Talking Rock Resort

Although the fire significantly impacted their business, the Quaaout Lodge was fortunately able to re-open their golf course within 5 days of the fire due to the structural loss being limited to the guest wing. They were also able to re-open their spa, restaurant, and conference centre by mid-summer. After witnessing the extensive damage from the fire, the resort will be replacing the remaining cedar shake roofs with Enviroshake in the near future. With Enviroshake's impressive fire resistance and our Class 4 UL 2218 impact rating, the Quaaout Lodge will rest assured knowing that their roofs are protected by the best synthetic roofing product on the market.

Learn more about Enviroshake's Unconditional Class A Fire Rating or watch Enviroshake's Class A Burn Test.

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