One dead in Gladstone Hotel fire

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/12/2022 (1196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GLADSTONE — One person has died after the Gladstone Hotel burned down early Christmas morning.

According to Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone Mayor Daryl Shipman, the hotel caught fire around 1:45 a.m.

“Fire crews came out pretty quickly, but it was engulfed right away,” Shipman said. “From what I understand, the Neepawa and Plumas fire departments also came down, but they couldn’t save the building itself. The building it was attached to, the gallery building, the firewall kept it secure, but it had to be evacuated with water and smoke damage to it.”

Shipman said he couldn’t name the deceased until their family is notified and proper procedure is followed. Also affected were apartments located in the back of the hotel building.

The local volunteer fire department was still on scene keeping an eye on hot spots and flareups, Shipman said Sunday. He asked people to stay away from the scene as they would be there for most of the day and possibly into the evening.

Community groups are already looking into helping those affected relocate. Some of the occupants are away for the holidays, Shipman said, and need somewhere to go when they return.

“We’re a strong community, and we’ll work together to help our people,” Shipman said.

When the Sun arrived at the scene around 2:30 p.m., smoke could still be seen billowing out of the remains of the building. Long white icicles created by the water used to put out the fire contrasted against the blackened rubble of the building.

Around 10 firefighters remained on scene to keep an eye on things, occasionally firing jets of water from a hose connected to a fire truck, churning up puffs of steam and smoke carried southwards by the wind.

Sections of Morris Street were closed to motorists near the site, though residents occasionally walked by on their way elsewhere in town.

From the front porch of a seniors drop-in centre across the street, owners of the bar inside the hotel watched the firefighters at work when not warming up inside.

Vinai Stephen, one of the owners, said the fire started in a unit in an apartment complex that shared a wall with the hotel. They also had an apartment in the building that burned.

“That unit caught on fire,” he said. “There’s a deck on top of that unit, I think it caught on fire … and creeped up to my bar.”

He said it took four or five hours for the fire to destroy the hotel.

Inside the seniors’ centre, four women who asked not to be named said they were providing a warm spot for both people evacuated from the affected buildings as well as the firefighters watching out for hot spots.

They had tables full of food and treats they said members of the community were dropping off. Throughout the day, they said people had been popping their heads in, asking what was needed and then returning with what they could gather.

According to them, the operator of the Gladstone Treasure Chest second-hand store just a couple of blocks away from the fire let some of the evacuees inside to pick out some clothes.

Former Gladstone mayor and current provincial Municipal Relations Minister Eileen Clarke wrote in a Facebook post that she is “sad and devastated” over the fire.

“I only pray everyone is safe and for the safety of our firefighters. It is so difficult with winter fires when it’s so cold,” Clarke wrote. “For today, these are my thoughts and my heart hurts for so many people.”

One of Clarke’s MLA constituency offices is on Dennis Street, just south of the railroad tracks from the hotel.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark