TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd, 6:00 AM MST UPDATE: According to VT Ski and Ride, Jake and Donna Carpenter – parents of George and Timothy Carpenter, who accidentally burned down Stowe's historic Stone Hut Christmas Eve – have pledged at least $100,000 towards the reconstruction of the 1930's-era hut at the top of Stowe Mountain Resort, and plan to match whatever funds the state can raise towards the rebuilding efforts.

An interview with the Carpenters got their perspective on the unfortunate incident, with Jake and Donna saying that a period of busy business travel for Burton and a wish to handle the situation as a personal affair were reasons for their decision not to make public their family's admission of culpability, or their donation and fundraising efforts towards the rebuilding effort. Donna also cited a frosty relationship with the local paper, The Stowe Reporter, as reason for not returning their calls and emails about the matter.

“We just are not the types to make a big public announcement about it,” Donna said in the interview.

ORIGINAL STORY, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19th, 8:00 AM MST:

According to Stowe Today, Jake Carpenter's family had the historic Stone Hut at Stowe reserved the evening it burned down in the early hours of Christmas Eve, and that Carpenter's sons George and Timothy took responsibility for accidentally leaving the hut's stove burning unattended, which ultimately lead to the destructive blaze. While preparing the hut for the arrival of some family friends, the two brothers built up a fire in the wood stove and brought wet wood in from outside to dry out, leaving it close to the stove when they left mid-afternoon.

Several hours later, they realized the family friends never showed up to the hut, but figured at that late hour that if there was a fire, it had already happened, and that taking the two hour hike to the hut from the base of the closed mountain wasn't worth the effort. Two days later, after firefighters rode Stowe's lifts to fight the blaze for the majority of the day Christmas Eve, George Carpenter called the local arson tip line to accept responsibility for the blaze. Apparently, as Carpenter's sons heard about the blaze Christmas Eve morning, they went to the mountain to see if they could assist, but resort officials told them to let the fire department handle the situation.

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Donations apparently poured in rapidly following the blaze, and officials expect they'll be able to rebuild the hut in due time thanks to the generosity of the community, incoming insurance money, and money from the state of Vermont.