Historic hotel in central Alberta town destroyed by fire

SEDGEWICK, AB- The landmark Pioneer Hotel in the town of Sedgewick was destroyed by a fire early Friday morning.

The local fire department responded to alarms ringing just minutes before midnight, Thursday.

"When the firefighters arrived on scene there was heavy smoke showing from the eaves of the building, (which) very quickly developed into flames shooting out the top floor," explained Kim Cannady, the regional fire chief for Flagstaff County.

Two fire units from Sedgewick responded to the fire, as well as two units from the Killam fire department.

Cannady says the blaze went up very quickly, forcing crews to immediately move into a defensive mode.

"It was balloon frame construction and no matter where the fire starts it spreads up the walls very quickly and it gets into the ceiling, and once it's in there it's really difficult to control," he explained. "We pretty much had to go into defensive mode right away. We couldn't save the building, so we just concentrated on making sure the fire didn't spread beyond the building."

One person was inside the hotel when the fire started, but he made it out safely and no other injuries were reported.

The Pioneer Hotel, which was built in 1906, was a historic building in the central Alberta town of 857 people. The mayor says the loss of the hotel is huge for the small, tight-knit community.

"It's provided a service for people for over 100 years. It's a big loss," explained Helen Whitten, who is in her second term as the town's mayor.

"The loss of a business is very important to a small community in rural Alberta," she said. "I certainly hope that in the future, we can re-generate the business. The hotel has always been a cornerstone of our main street. It identifies Main Street."

The fire burned throughout the night and into Friday morning.

Crews will be investigating to determine the cause of the blaze however, Cannady says investigators may not be able to into the burnt out building until Saturday.

"We're going to have to wait for it to cool off before we can even get in there, and once we get in there, if we're fortunate, the evidence that we need to look for is not below the water line."

The town of Sedgewick is located 175 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.