The abandoned West Hotel has been destroyed by an early morning fire that sent flames high enough in the sky to be seen across town.
Thunder Bay Fire and Rescue Services chief John Hay said firefighters were in a defensive mode from the minute they arrived on scene on Thursday morning, at the intersection of Miles and Simpson streets, working to save surrounding buildings.
The hotel, recently taken over by the city and scheduled for demolition, was too far gone to save, he said.
“We’re not going to be sending anybody in on this at all. We didn’t from the beginning. It was an abandoned building. It was supposed to be secured up. Apparently the security didn’t work as good as we had hoped,” Hay said.
“Right now we’re protecting exposures on Hardisty Street as our goal right now. So far it’s been effective.”
Fire officials have no way of knowing whether or not squatters were occupying the building, which is located across the street from the rubble pile that was the Triple Nickel night club, which burned to the ground last January.
More than a dozen people were evacuated from a Hardisty Street residence as a precaution. Red Cross officials were on scene lending support to the evacuees, who were huddled together on a city bus a few blocks south of the fire.
Rob Kilgour, district branch manager of the Canadian Red Cross, said their job is to register victims who may be in need of accommodation or food.
“Basically it’s the immediate needs that may be needed by the evacuees,” he said, unable to pin an exact number of people in their care.
“At this point it’s hard to say because we have people coming and going. They don’t have a fixed number, but we’ve got in excess of about 10 or 15.”
Hay said it’s too soon to give any indication how the fire started. The call came in around 4 a.m.
“We’d be guessing if we did,” he said.
A crowd of onlookers gathered in the streets and lined the sidewalks to watch the blaze. One, a former patron of the hotel bar, took a few seconds to collect his thoughts as the embers continued to burn in the gutted structure 100 yards away.
"I used to play pool in here every day after work sometimes," said the middle-aged man, who would not give his name. "It's kind of a sad thing. I hope nobody got hurt in there.
"I remember drinking in the Army-Navy Legion at one time, 30 years ago, for sure. You've got to wonder what's going on here. That bar is gone (pointing to the Triple Nickel site), now this bar. Which one is next? None of them are left anymore."
