'A real loss': one person dead after Gladstone hotel Christmas fire

One person is dead and up to 15 people homeless after a massive fire destroyed a hotel in Gladstone, Man. Christmas Day.

The blaze started around 1:45 a.m., according to Westlake-Gladstone Mayor Daryl Shipman. "Fire trucks responded from our volunteer fire department, also from the village of Plumas and the town of Neepawa, so we had three different fire crews fighting throughout the night," he said.

Stacey Waldner lives down the street from the hotel. She and her son were woken up around three in the morning by all the commotion.

"We heard bangs, I thought it was gunshots, so we went to the window to look," she said.

Waldner saw several emergency vehicles on-scene as firefighters tackled the blaze. Moments later, she heard banging at her door.

"They said we would have to maybe evacuate, and within two minutes they came back and said that you guys have to evacuate now," said Waldner.

She said they ended up driving around town while the fire burned. "When I left there wasn't flames coming out of the building at 3:30 in the morning," said Waldner, "Around five, that’s when they all started. Like you could see where the buildings were on fire."

Shipman said fire crews worked into the following afternoon fighting the flames. "We went though a lot of water and had to refuel our truck a few times … some of the firemen were up for well over a day."

The fire was out by mid-afternoon Sunday. Shipman said a skeleton crew remained on scene to monitor hotspots.

He added that one person died in the fire. The cause is under investigation, but foul play is not suspected at this time.

The hotel is a complete loss, and the adjoining heritage building - which had been converted into apartments – was heavily damaged in the blaze.

"All in all I think we've lost eight or nine apartments and the rooms in the hotel itself. So it's probably going to affect 12-15 people," said Shipman.

He said it's tough news to take on Christmas Day, "A real loss, we've had some history of fires on our town."

But Shipman said that lots of people have been coming forward to help. "The show of support from the community has been outstanding, people want to donate goods, food, clothing, money," said Shipman.

Waldner said though it was not a great way to spend Christmas morning, she's just grateful it wasn't worse, "I hope everyone who was displaced has found somewhere to be, and I just pray for the family of the person who passed away."