Crews are currently working to clean out and restore the Blairmore Best Canadian Motor Inn, the restaurant and lounge of which were destroyed by fire on November 5th.
According to Kevin Cox of Belfor Property Restoration, workers are currently dealing with the contents of the hotel.
“Those contents which are salvageable are being restored and cleaned, and those which aren’t are being disposed of,” said Cox.
BCMI General Manager Gary Farstad noted that nine dumpsters of unsalvageable material has been taken to the landfill so far.
“They almost have the whole thing emptied,” he said.
Cox added that an engineer was also on site last week to inspect the structure and determine which areas of the hotel are write-offs and which can be restored.
Farstad said he expects roughly half of the building will need to be bulldozed and reconstructed, including the entire restaurant and bar area, as well as part of the lobby.
“Half of the job will be demolition and rebuilding,” said Farstad.
“About three quarters of the room site will need to be stripped to wood and concrete and fully restored.”