Investigation continues following 'beast' of a fire at Deer Lake motel, fire chief says

Deer Lake's fire chief says an investigation is continuing following the largest fire he's seen, which destroyed a landmark hotel in the western Newfoundland community on Saturday.

Stephen Rowsell told CBC News Monday crews responded to the Driftwood Inn shortly after 7 a.m. NT Saturday. Fire crews from Deer Lake, Pasadena, Reidville and Cormack were on the scene fighting an intensely hot fire, he said, which was only made hotter by the motel's metal roof.

"Winds were basically in the direction of the road, so we had to spread out the trucks a little so that we could operate safely. And yeah, there was a lot of smoke and flame," Rowsell said.

"In my career, this is probably the longest that we've attended [a fire]. It was 16 hours on scene, extra hours with cleanup. Total, we're well over 20, 24 hours of firefighting duties … we focused our efforts on the fire attack to try and get this beast put out."

The RCMP are handling the investigation, and said Monday a search is continuing for a 77-year-old man who was staying at the inn. Police said the man hasn't been accounted for since the fire began.

Rowsell said the cause of the fire remains unknown, but said firefighters did start tackling the fire from the centre of the building. The inn also housed a Jungle Jim's restaurant.

Guests staying at the motel questioned the building's fire detection system, with multiple guests telling CBC News they didn't hear fire alarms or sprinklers going off and were instead woken up to bangs on their doors.

Rowsell said he was unaware of any impacts to the detection system, but said crews did hear alarm bells when they arrived on scene.

"There was bells activated on the outside of the building, which would indicate that a pull station or a fire alarm was activated," he said.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador's Official Opposition is calling for the fire to be investigated based off of what they've heard from people staying at the hotel.

Grand Falls-Windsor-Buchans MHA Chris Hibbs —  also a former firefighter — said Saturday's fire could have been a disaster and wants an investigation into what happened.

"If the alarm didn't go off when the smoke filled the building, obviously their smoke detectors may not have been working," he told CBC Radio Monday afternoon.

"If everything was up to snuff and everything was by protocol, then we need to change the protocol, obviously. But if things weren't up to protocol and things weren't done, whether it be fire alarms or the suppression system itself, then somebody needs to be held accountable for this."

Hibbs said he hopes any findings from a report would be made public, and says the fire should also serve as a warning to other hotels and businesses to make sure their fire suppression tools are in working order.