KEESEVILLE — Fire destroyed a vacant bowling alley in Keeseville late Wednesday night, but firefighters were able to save two nearby buildings.

Firefighters from several area departments, led by the Keeseville Fire Department, did their best to battle the blaze at Keeseville Lanes and Lounge at 93 Kent St.

Peru, AuSable Forks, Willsboro, South Plattsburgh and District 3 crews joined Keeseville firefighters at the site around 10 p.m. and worked through the night.

The huge structure has been used as a bowling alley on and off for at least 50 years but was up for sale at the time of the fire.

Owned by Sonny Tromblay, it had reopened for a short time a few years ago but has been closed since at least April 2008.

NEIGHBORS CALL 911

Neighbors Joe and Katrina Burnell and Carly Sweeney all smelled smoke about 10:15 p.m. and walked over toward the bowling alley to check it out.

“I could feel the heat off the building and could hear the crackling,” Joe Burnell said.

They called 911 to report the fire.

Keeseville Fire Chief David Winter said the fire had a good head start before they arrived.

“The building was full of heavy smoke, a lot of it up in the attic. We had a hard time getting to it right from the get-go.”

He said the open nature of the bowling alley didn’t help any.

“There was a tremendous amount of smoke — you couldn’t see across street at times.”

When it is humid, as it was Wednesday night, the heavy air prevents the smoke from rising.