Crews battle blaze at Hoito (STAFF PHOTO - Vasilios Bellos)
A fire at a historic Thunder Bay landmark.
Fire and police crews responded to the blaze at the Home of the Hoito around 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
Dave Paxton is the Deputy Fire Chief in Thunder Bay and spoke to Acadia News about the blaze.
He said when crews arrived, the fire was already in the walls and crews had to go on the defensive.
Eventually fire fighters were pushed out of the building because of the heat and needing to protect neighbouring structures.
We were also told that everything from the second floor up to the roof is completely gone from the blaze, and that everything below will likely be heavily water damaged.
As of this morning, there were still several fire trucks at the scene making sure the building is completely extinguished.
It’s not known if the the building is still salvageable as a structural engineer will need to inspect it first for safety.
The fire marshal’s office will be investigating the cause of the fire.
The landmark building originally closed back in the spring of 2020 and liquidated all assets to try and pay off financial obligations.
