Lakes Region schools are among those reaching out to Fryeburg Academy after a fire destroyed the school’s gymnasium.

The fire that tore through the school’s 50-year-old gym on Oct. 12 not only decimated that structure but also destroyed both the records and sports equipment stored within its walls and left the school’s winter sports teams without a place to practice or to play home games.

But response from area schools has been “tremendous,” said Fryeburg Academy’s Athletic Director Todd Gallagher.

“So many schools have offered to help that we can’t even get back to everybody,” he said.

One of the first calls Gallagher received after the fire was from Lake Region High School Athletic Director Todd Sampson. The two have known each other for many years, before they were employed in their current positions.

According to Sampson, Lake Region Head Football Coach Chuck Hamaty and his team gave their longtime rivals, the Fryeburg football team, an entire set of gold jerseys. Fryeburg wore them for last weekend’s game and will continue to wear them for the rest of the season.

The school also donated other equipment they weren’t currently using, including a dozen helmets, 20 pairs of shoulder pads, and a box each of mouth guards and game footballs.

But Sampson recognizes that equipment isn’t enough. He said the fire has had a huge impact on Fryeburg’s winter sports teams.

And Gallagher agrees.

“We’ve suddenly become a team without a home,” he said.

As a result, several schools, Lake Region among them, have offered the use of their gymnasium for Fryeburg’s basketball and wrestling teams.

Although Lake Region High School would continue to use their gym on game days, Sampson said Lake Region teams have offered to move their practices to the middle school to free up the high school gym space for Fryeburg’s use.

“I know Todd Gallagher very well and there’s no question he would be doing the same thing for us. We’re neighbors,” Sampson said.

With the long-standing rivalry between Lake Region and Fryeburg Academy, Sampson said many area residents have great memories of Fryeburg’s burned gymnasium and of games played there during the past 50 years.

“One community member compared it to the old Boston Garden,” he said.

Other area schools are also helping out with donations of time and offers of space.

Athletic Director Gary Stevens of Bonny Eagle High School said that he is sending Gallagher a “care package” including a 2004 contact list of coaches and athletic directors from schools in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. He’s also including a “Sports Done Right” guidebook that athletic directors use.

“He has no office. His office is his cell phone. Hopefully these items can help him do his job,” Stevens said.

Steven Merrill, athletic director at Windham High School, said they’ve “got a couple of things in the works.”

From conversations with Gallagher, Merrill recognizes that scheduling may be Fryeburg’s biggest challenge.

“As far as boys’ or girls’ basketball or wrestling,” he said, “we’ll try to help out any way we can.”