Nova Scotia

'Heavy fire' that damaged historic inn in Wolfville deemed suspicious

A fire that damaged Victoria's Historic Inn on Robie Tufts Drive in Wolfville, N.S., has been deemed suspicious.

Fire broke out in the early morning Friday

A nighttime photo shows the front of an old wooden building ablaze.
The fire was raging when crews reached Victoria's Historic Inn. Two people inside escaped safely. (Mike Whitman/Wolfville Volunteer Fire Department)

A fire that damaged a historic inn in Wolfville, N.S., early Friday has been deemed suspicious.

Fire crews were called to Victoria's Historic Inn on Main Street at 5:25 a.m.

Todd Crowell, chief of the Wolfville Volunteer Fire Department, said crews were paged for a commercial structure fire.

"Upon the first officers' arrival there was a heavy fire on the exterior of the building extension to the interior of the structure," he said in an email.

The email said two occupants got out safely.

He said the department is working with the Office of the Fire Marshal and RCMP to determine the cause of the fire.

One wall of a wooden building is blackened by fire.
Fire damaged one of the buildings at Victoria's Historic Inn in Wolfville, N.S. (Dylan Jones/CBC)

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall said the fire has been deemed suspicious.

He said the property was evacuated and no one was injured in the blaze.

The part of the inn that caught fire was separated slightly from the main building. The portion that burned was very extensively damaged, Marshall said, and is likely a complete loss.

A man in protective clothing and another in a safety vest speak to each other with the burned building in the background.
Investigators work at the scene of a suspicious fire in Wolfville, N.S., on Friday morning. (Dylan Jones/CBC)

Larry LeCouter of the Hantsport Fire Department said his crew was paged to respond at 5:33 a.m. and assisted the Wolfville crew, along with crews from other nearby departments.

LeCouter said the inn is "one of the real big nice places" in the town.

By 7:45 a.m., crews had begun to pack up and get ready to leave the scene.