LOWVILLE, NY -- Cleaning materials may be to blame for a fire that destroyed a popular bowling alley in Lewis County. The fire broke out just before midnight Sunday night at Lewis Lanes along State Route 26 in Lowville.

When crews arrived, the building was fully engulfed in flames. The bowling alley had been closed for about an hour and a half when the fire started, but fire investigators do not believe foul play was involved.

The damage is estimated at between $750,000 and $1 million, and a state fire investigator from Schenectady has been called in to investigate. The Lewis County Sheriff, who also serves as fire investigator, remembers the building as not just a bowling alley, but also a community center.

No one was in the building at the time of the fire, and while the cause has not been determined, officials are looking at cleaning materials that were inside the building.