Residents in Ituna, Sask., will have to look for a new hangout spot after a fire destroyed its downtown hotel.
The Ituna Hotel, built in 1910, went up in flames shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday night.
The hotel’s bar and restaurant were described as a hub for locals.
“I spent a lot of time there in my youth that’s for sure. People go there to have a drink and visit,” said Sheldon Olech, an Ituna resident who lives down the street from the hotel.
Olech was at home when his son, returning from hockey, told him about the fire. He immediately went outside and began filming.
“We kept watching and it started slowly engulfing more and more and then a local contractor brought his backhoe and started knocking it down trying to contain it,” Olech said.
“You could feel the heat from across the street and half a block down.”
Fire crews from Ituna, Melville and Kelliher were on scene until about 11 a.m. Friday, picking up the pieces of what was left of the building.
“We started to attack the fire and then it started to spread way too fast. We went into defensive mode to protect the buildings beside it,” said John Sopel, Ituna Fire Department chief.
He said one building beside the hotel caught on fire and did receive damage to its exterior.
Sopel said the fire started on the second floor, but they have yet to determine how it started.
Hotel manager Murray Anderson, speaking on behalf of the owners whose English is limited, believes the fire started due to electrical failure.
Anderson said the owners were already struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic and weren’t expecting another hit to their business.
“They’re sad. They only had it for about a year,” Anderson said.
Anderson said the owners aren’t sure if the hotel will ever reopen and are waiting to hear back from the insurance company. The hotel employed three people including Anderson.
Despite the uncertainty, one thing is clear — the fire will have a significant impact on the community.
“It was a big building so, it’s going to leave a big hole on Main Street,” Olech said.
Nobody was injured in the fire. The fire department continues to investigate.
Ituna is 134 km, or about an hour and a half drive, northeast of Regina.
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