A community run salmon hatchery in Port Moody burnt to the ground on Wednesday night, but the mayor says he is confident it will be rebuilt.

The fire at the Mossom Creek Community Salmon Hatchery was first detected by a motion detector that activated an alarm early Wednesday evening. But when the Port Moody Fire Department attempted to reach the site, it was unable to get its trucks up the road due to the icy conditions, making it difficult to fight the fire.

George Assaf, the vice president of the Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society said the facility burned to the ground and the building and this year's stocks are expected to be a total loss.

Port Moody's mayor, Mike Clay, says it was a horrible experience watching the facility burn, destroying not just the hatchery but also scrapbooks and pictures, but he says he is confident it will be rebuilt.

Mossom creek hatchery, which was first started in the 1970s by volunteers from a high school, has been in operation on the north shore of Port Moody for the past 38 years. It released thousands of chum and coho salmon to Mossom Creek and other streams that drain into the Burrard Inlet.